Tom Faranda's Folly

China Slashes Kids’ Gaming Time to Just Three Hours a Week

How to - ultimately - rule the world. Below the video is text from the WSJ.

 

China Limits Online Videogames to Three Hours a Week for Young People. New regulation will ban minors from playing videogames entirely between Monday and Thursday

China has a new rule for the country’s hundreds of millions of young gamers: No online videogames during the school week, and one hour a day on Fridays, weekends and public holidays.

China on Monday issued strict new measures aimed at curbing what authorities describe as youth videogame addiction, which they blame for a host of societal ills, including distracting young people from school and family responsibilities.

The new regulation, unveiled by the National Press and Publication Administration, will ban minors, defined as those under 18 years of age, from playing online videogames entirely between Monday and Thursday. On the other three days of the week, and on public holidays, they will be only permitted to play between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The government announcement said all online videogames will be required to connect to an “anti-addiction” system operated by the National Press and Publication Administration. The regulation, which takes effect on Wednesday, will require all users to register using their real names and government-issued identification documents.

Taliban Buys Hunter Biden Painting For Presidential Palace

Ok so they don't have very good taste - but with all the cash left behind they could afford Hunter's prices.

... after just a few days of getting settled in, the Taliban has found the decor "ostentatious" and "stuffy."

After a quick internet search of "paintings perfect for terrorists who want an in with the US president" the Taliban assistant in charge of buying things like paintings, influence, and good press, discovered the paintings by the famous painter Hunter Biden.

“His art is not beautiful, just like shot-up buildings and holes in the earth from explosions are not beautiful. It’s perfect for us,” stated Taliban decorator Evanah Kaboomahalalah. "We were very surprised to find the artist behind the painting we fell in love with was the son of the US president Joe Biden. We thought he was just a degenerate loser, but actually, he has been quite good at bringing in lots of money and at painting.”

The Taliban offered to pay $1,000,000 for the painting and also requested that Mr. Hunter Biden deliver it himself as a gesture of goodwill between the two countries.

At publishing time, Mr. Biden had agreed to give the Taliban the painting in exchange for safe passage back to the airport so he wouldn’t be stranded in Afghanistan like all the other Americans.

Vanity Fair Mag: "Andrew Cuomo’s Political Career Ends (Maybe) With a Whimper:

Good article by the very liberal Vanity Fair. Only eight paragraphs so hit the link.

The final days in the governor’s inner circle were furious, says a Cuomo associate: “The tone was, ‘I can’t believe Tish did this to us’...It’s a total lack of self-awareness.” As he departs the governor’s mansion, those around Cuomo reflect on the red flags of his reign.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo was reeling. The state’s attorney general, Letitia James, had released the results of a nearly five-month-long investigation into accusations of sexual harassment against him earlier than expected, catching the governor off guard. Worse, the results were damning: A 168-page report, assembled from interviews with 179 witnesses, described Cuomo’s offensive behavior with 11 women, including a state trooper assigned to his security detail. So the governor and top staffers met to craft a response—but also to vent their anger that Cuomo was the one who had been wronged. “The tone was, ‘I can’t believe Tish did this to us. She stabbed us in the back. It’s so unfair!’” a Cuomo associate who was told of the discussion says, still incredulous three weeks later. “The king of backstabbing complaining about an attorney general undermining people? Let’s review when Cuomo was A.G.—what happened to Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson? It’s a total lack of self-awareness.”

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

There has been no more vociferous critic of Cuomo than Democratic state senator Alessandra Biaggi, on everything from policy to political tactics. Yet even Biaggi says she has sympathy, to a degree, for Cuomo. “He is unfit to lead the state,” Biaggi says, “but I do feel sorry for him. It’s very tragic to me to have somebody with this much talent, this much skill, this much opportunity, this much advantage—to take it all and just waste it. What could have been if he was just a decent, ethical person who didn’t have this obsession with controlling other people?”

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

Did it have to end this way? Was Cuomo’s bruising, manipulative style going to sink him eventually, or did he squander his gifts and blow his chance? “Well, ‘squander’ suggests that he had a choice,” says Kathy Wylde. She is president of the Partnership for New York City, a formidable organization of business interests that gave Cuomo important support for most of his time in office. Wylde’s history with Cuomo stretches back considerably longer. “I’ve known him since he was 20, and he just has no perspective, no real self-perception. When he hits a brick wall, he stops. But nothing else stops him. I don’t think he has the capacity to do anything differently.”

Ed Asner - Mr. Grant interviews Mary for the job

Ed Asner died over the weekend - he was 91. Playing Lou Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore Show was what made his career. The show debuted in 1970 and it's a classic - reruns are still popular. Thanks to Dennis for sending me this. 

NYT - Head of Harvard's 40 person chaplaincy department - is an atheist

It takes about six minutes to read the whole article. I have always viewed atheism as anti-intellectual, but that's just me.

Anyway a sign of the times. I've excerpted five of the 23 paragraphs.

Nonreligiosity is on the rise far beyond the confines of Harvard; it is the fastest growing religious preference in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. More than 20 percent of the country identifies as atheist, agnostic or nonreligious — called the “nones” — including four in 10 millennials.

The reasons that more young Americans are disaffiliating in the world’s most religious developed country are varied. The Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith attributes the trend partly to the growing alliance between the Republican Party and the Christian right, a decline of trust in institutions, growing skepticism of religion in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a shift away from traditional family structures that centered on churchgoing.

Mr. Epstein’s community has tapped into the growing desire for meaning without faith in God. “Being able to find values and rituals but not having to believe in magic, that’s a powerful thing,” said A.J. Kumar, who served as the president of a Harvard humanist graduate student group that Mr. Epstein advised.

Other Harvard chaplains have applauded Mr. Epstein’s efforts to provide a campus home for those who are religiously unattached, skeptical but still searching. Some said his selection to lead the group, following its previous Jewish leader, seemed obvious.

“Greg was the first choice of a committee that was made up of a Lutheran, a Christian Scientist, an evangelical Christian and a Bahá’í,” said the Rev. Kathleen Reed, a Lutheran chaplain who chaired the nominating committee. “We’re presenting to the university a vision of how the world could work when diverse traditions focus on how to be good humans and neighbors.”

 

NY Times: Students at American University of Kabul are stranded

Went up on the Times website at 11PM Sunday. Shocking.

Hundreds of students, their relatives and staff of American University of Afghanistan gathered at a safe house on Sunday and boarded buses in what was supposed to be a final attempt at evacuation on U.S. military flights, the students said.

But after seven hours of waiting for clearance to enter the airport gates and driving around the city, the group met a dead end: Evacuations were permanently called off. The airport gates remained a security threat, and civilian evacuations were ending Monday.

“I regret to inform you that the high command at HKIA in the airport has announced there will be no more rescue flights,” said an email sent to students from the university administration on Sunday afternoon, which was shared with The New York Times.

Heartbreaking interview with father of marine killed at Kabul airport.

A nightmare.

 

White House doubles it's inflation forecast; but don't worry it will go away

Uh huh. I have a bridge for sale.  This from the WSJ.

The Office of Management and Budget said it expects consumer prices will rise 4.8% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, up sharply from the 2% rise that the Biden administration forecast in May. Officials see those price pressures quickly abating next year, with the consumer-price index rising 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022, more than the 2.1% they expected in May, and reaching 2.3% in 2023.

Recent data suggest inflation pressures may have started easing but remain elevated. Consumer prices rose 0.4% last month, lower than the prior month’s 0.5% gain, according to the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Compared with a year ago, overall prices rose 4.2%.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday used most of his speech at a virtual symposium hosted by the Kansas City Fed to explain why he still believes this year’s inflation surge would prove temporary, and why tightening monetary policy too early could stunt the expansion.

So far, there is little evidence that inflation is rising beyond a “relatively narrow group of goods and services that have been directly affected by the pandemic and the reopening of the economy,” he said.

The narrow group includes food and gasoline.

 

Wow. In 2014 John McCain warned us about the current Secretary of State, Tony Blinken

As McCain opposed his nomination as Deputy Secretary of State. Sad and prophetic. And as McCain says "elections have consequences."

Have the Yankees gotten better ... or luckier?

UPDATE: Yanks won their 12th in a row last night, 7-6. They had blown a 6-0 lead before winning in the ninth inning.

From the FiveThirtyEight website that is super-big on analyzing all the data they get from places like statcast. Good article for all things Yankee baseball.

That faltering ride — one of the most expensive in baseball, as is New York’s wont — has since found the right gear. Since that demoralizing defeat to Boston, the Yankees have been the hottest team in baseball, going 23-5 — including a current 11-game win streak — and erasing what had been a nearly 10-game hole to the Red Sox in the division (and playoff) standings. After starting with MLB’s second-best World Series odds, according to FiveThirtyEight’s forecast, New York had just a 34 percent chance to make the playoffs on July 26. Today, they’re up to 94 percent playoff odds and an 8 percent chance to win the Fall Classic, fifth-best in baseball.

New NY governor revises Covid death numbers that Cuomo Administration deliberately understated

I guess the real #'s would have cut into his book sales and Emmy (which he's now been stripped of - Further proof for the existence of God; Cuomo stripped of his Emmy Award )

Here's the report from the NY Post -

The new state figures show the number COVID-related deaths in New York State as of Tuesday totaled 55,395. It’s a significant jump from the 43,415 that would have been reported under the old system, which only tallied deaths in hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities.

However, state officials did quietly provide the total count to the federal authorities at the CDC, which began providing them in its own datasets — raising rounds of questions about the information published locally by the Cuomo administration.

The Cuomo administration used similar tactics to make the number of nursing home deaths caused by the coronavirus appear dramatically smaller, tallying just those residents who died in nursing homes and not those who were taken to the hospital before passing away.

And this is from the Daily Wire -

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) acknowledged Wednesday that an additional 12,000 COVID-19 deaths occurred during the Cuomo administration than were previously reported by the state.

The update brings New York’s COVID-19 total death toll from 43,400 to 55,400, an increase of more than 25% since Monday’s data, according to the Associated Press. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who stepped down Monday, had been criticized for his lack of transparency on the state’s COVID-19 deaths and his pandemic-era policies.

“We’re now releasing more data than had been released before publicly, so people know the nursing home deaths and the hospital deaths are consistent with what’s being displayed by the CDC,” Hochul, who served as Cuomo’s little-known lieutenant governor for two terms, told MSNBC on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of things that weren’t happening and I’m going to make them happen. Transparency will be the hallmark of my administration.”

The updated death toll reflects death certificate data that has been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These figures, according to the Associated Press, differ from Cuomo’s because his administration only counted “laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported through a state system that collects data from hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities,” while excluding other deaths, such as those who died at home or in certain state-run facilities, such as disability living centers.

The Cuomo administration also “excluded people who likely died of COVID-19 but never got a positive test to confirm the diagnosis” from the figures they used in media briefings, reports AP.

Hochul told NPR in an interview Wednesday that she plans to increase transparency to improve the state’s credibility, which took a hit with the Cuomo administration’s scandals, including hiding the data on the number of nursing home deaths.

NY Times: "Those Anti-Covid Plastic Barriers Probably Don’t Help and May Make Things Worse"

Kind of anti-intuitive that the barriers don't help - but I guess we need to "follow the science"

There are some situations in which the clear shields might be protective, but it depends on a number of variables. The barriers can stop big droplets ejected during coughs and sneezes from splattering on others, which is why buffets and salad bars often are equipped with transparent sneeze guards above the food. But Covid-19 spreads largely through unseen aerosol particles. While there isn’t much real-world research on the impact of transparent barriers and the risk of disease, scientists in the United States and Britain have begun to study the issue, and the findings are not reassuring.

How about this? No, that's not Tim...

Or this?

Handy guide: How to find True Trump followers

Don't know about the surgical implant ... Thank you BB for this.

How does one recognize a faithful follower of the One True President Trump? They may have been scattered, but they are not defeated. Trump has preserved for himself a faithful remnant, and they will someday return with the armies of MAGA to usher in the second term of President Trump.

So how do you spot a loyal servant of the king? The outward clues are very subtle, so we have created this handy guide to help you find your scattered allies across America!

 

Further proof for the existence of God; Cuomo stripped of his Emmy Award

Yes, another demonstration that ultimately it is a just universe. Multiple reports and the one below from NBC.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is no longer an Emmy winner after his award was rescinded, with the international TV academy citing his resignation after a report found that he had sexually harassed 11 women.

"The International Academy announced today that in light of the New York Attorney General's report, and Andrew Cuomo's subsequent resignation as Governor, it is rescinding his special 2020 International Emmy Award," the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said in a statement Tuesday.

"His name and any reference to his receiving the award will be eliminated from International Academy materials going forward," it said.

Message from the official propaganda organ of the Chinese government

Biden about face; contingency plans to stay beyond the end of the month in Afghanistan

Good. The idea of withdrawing without getting everyone out is sickening. Hit the link for the full NYP article.

In an abrupt about-face, President Joe Biden announced that he has asked defense officials to put together “contingency plans” for keeping American forces on the ground in Afghanistan beyond the end of this month — despite claiming earlier Tuesday that the White House would abide by the Taliban’s “red line” of a full withdrawal by Aug. 31.

Biden said Tuesday that the completion of US forces’ evacuation operation at Kabul’s international airport by the end of this month “depends on the Taliban continuing to cooperate” — and confirmed that he had asked the Pentagon and the State Department for “contingency plans to adjust the timetable, should that become necessary.”

Biden delivered his latest update on the ongoing chaos in brief remarks from the Roosevelt Room at the White House. He spoke for approximately 13 minutes — the first five of which were devoted to his domestic agenda — and took no questions from the press pool.

Here's the US military equipment the Taliban will end up with

Wow. Enough to literally keep them going for decades. At least they won't be able to fly the Black Hawks ... but maybe they'll trade them to Pakistan?

NY Post's Michael Goodwin amusing as he comments on Cuomo's last speech

Good riddance. Arrogance personified. Move on to media or being a lobbyist - you need a high paying gig to catch up with your brother Chris.

Here's Goodwin - Cuomo’s ridiculous ‘farewell’ speech shows he hasn’t learned a thing: Goodwin

The interest in watching Andrew Cuomo’s farewell speech recalls a story about the death of Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer. His funeral was mobbed, but not necessarily by admirers. As one of his detractors put it, people came to make sure the bastard really was dead.

Cuomo inspires similar sentiments and those who endured his grating final salute to himself were rewarded with the certainty he really is leaving. By the time New Yorkers wake up Tuesday morning, Kathy Hochul will be the governor.

Any inclination to feel sorry for Cuomo over how he destroyed himself was overwhelmed by his cringe-worthy good-bye. Indeed, the very idea that he would even presume to give a farewell speech, as if he was some kind of beloved hero like George Washington or Winston Churchill, is a sign of his detachment from reality.

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

Like any narcissist, he feels only his own pain.

There's more if you hit the link. Michael Goodwin must have loved writing this column.

Saints: Catholic nuns staying in Afghanistan - working with disabled children

And they hope to expand what they are doing.

Sisters Teresia Crasta, 50, an Indian from the Institute of the Child Mary, and Shahnaz Bhatti, a Sister of Charity of St Joan Antida from Pakistan, work at the Pro Bambini di Kabul (Pbk) school, started by an organization founded in response to John Paul IIs appeal to “save Afghan children.” It is the only school of its kind in Afghanistan, taking in 50 children between the ages of six and 12 with developmental delays, including some with Down syndrome. “Our aim is to develop their potential and, when possible, to allow them to be included in the education system,” Teresia told AsiaNews.

In spite of worries that Afghanistan might soon revert to a regime where women are second class citizens and girls are denied education, the sisters at Pbk plan to increase the school’s enrollment to 60 pupils. In addition, a new sister will be joining the staff, and the Pbk will be offering a scholarship for young women who show promise in becoming citizens who will work to build up society. 

Sister Shahnaz said that although the sisters cannot profess their faith in public, “everyone knows that we are Christians.”

“They respect us and appreciate the way we welcome anyone in need,” she said. “We have many friends here and for the rest we rely on God.”

In his last act as Governor, Cuomo abandons his dog.

Yes very fitting.

Who will care for Captain? Movers arrive at the Governor's mansion for Cuomo's final day in office but his dog Captain is left behind as he asks staff if anyone wants the rescue pup

But New York magazine, AK'ing 'til the end, says maybe not. 

Soon-to-be-former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has recently given the public many things to be mad about. To name a few: sexually harassing a bunch of women who worked for him, according to the state attorney general; creating a toxic environment of intimidation and retaliation in the executive chamber, again, per the AG; allegedly underreporting nursing-home deaths early on in the coronavirus pandemic, in a crisis of his own creation; martyring himself in his non-apology of a resignation address. And now, according to report by the Albany Times Union, moving out of the governor’s mansion and just … leaving behind his seemingly beloved dog?

The paper alleges that Cuomo abandoned his boy, “a high-strung mix of shepherd, Siberian, and malamute” named Captain, after trying and failing to get multiple staff members to take him. Times Union sources (two people with the state police) say that one mansion employee took the dog home for a few days but ultimately “decided he was too much.” Apparently, Captain has “nipped” at “several state police members” and staffers since Cuomo adopted him three years ago, and that “the governor would just laugh” at this behavior. As of Saturday, one source told the Times Union, Captain remained at the mansion, though Cuomo relocated to a sister’s house last week.

Cuomo’s camp vociferously denies the allegation, with senior adviser and spokesperson Rich Azzopardi insisting Cuomo had only been seeking someone to look after Captain while he went on a post-resignation vacation. Azzopardi initially called the paper’s sources “crazy,” and said Cuomo “didn’t ask to give away the dog.”

Whether he did or he didn't, he's still an arrogant you-know-what.

Radio host who belittled getting vaccinated dies of Covid 19

A bit late for the regrets.

“He wishes he could do it over,” Valentine’s brother Mark told Nashville public radio station WPLN in a July interview. “His regret [was] ‘I made the decision [not to get vaccinated] based on my situation, but I know now that a lot of people didn’t get the vaccine because I didn’t get the vaccine. And that is what I would like to correct.’”

 

Sen. Ben Sasse on the Abandoning Bagram air base - "'stupidest' military blunder in US history"

There's nothing this guy says that I disagree with. I love his last line.

 

Oklahoma woman rescues ten Afghan girls

In the Wall Street Journal this weekend. Story below the picture

Here's what they were working on - "Afghanistan's all-girl robotics team work on their new robotic project aimed at detecting embedded mines, at their lab in Herat, Afghanistan, April 26."

The vast bureaucracies of the White House, Pentagon and State Department may have been taken by surprise by what’s unfolded in Afghanistan. But not Allyson Reneau. Thanks to this 60-year-old Oklahoma mother, 10 members of the Afghan Girls Robotics team have escaped from Afghanistan.

 

Mrs. Reneau had met the girls, ages 16 to 18, at a 2019 Humans to Mars summit in Washington while they were on a visit for a robotics competition in the U.S. A few days ago on Instagram, she posted a photo of herself with some of those girls and asked people to pray for a “miracle.”

But Mrs. Reneau, who has nine daughters of her own, didn’t sit back and wait for one. Instead, she flew to Qatar on Aug. 9. There a former roommate of hers now working at the U.S. Embassy stayed up all night to process the paperwork needed to get the girls out. The government of Qatar sent a plane and flew the girls out. The rescue is one of the few images of hope coming out of the mess and chaos of Afghanistan.

“I just decided to take any action I could to save a few,” Mrs. Reneau explained on Instagram. She went on to warn that “the window is closing” for another group of girls from the team who also need to be rescued.

We join all Americans in saluting the pluck and enterprise of this extraordinary woman—and hope it will inspire our own government to devote whatever resources it needs to finish the job. Maybe Mr. Biden should put her in charge.

Non-violent resistance by Afghanis to the Taliban?

The Taliban are so brutal one wonders if any resistance has a chance of success - but there are some advantages for the Afghani people. This is from Peace and Life Connections - the weekly email of the Consistent Life Network.

Violence in Afghanistan: The Taliban
 
        The Taliban has a well-deserved reputation for brutality, especially when they ran the country’s government (1996-2001). But we know enough about the history of world-wide nonviolent resistance to know that those Afghanis who oppose their violence have some advantages that didn’t exist during the previous Taliban rule, which include:
 
∞ While hardly anyone had a mobile phone back then, over 70% do now. With the internet, the ability to get documentation of brutality to the country and the world is much greater.
 
∞ There’s a large Afghani expatriate community world-wide with an intense interest in human rights in their home country.
 
∞ Women and girls have now grown accustomed to schools, universities, and jobs. Attempts to take that away may be less effective.
 
        Of course, we don’t know how this will turn out in the long term. But we can hope this may be another case where nonviolence achieves what violence can’t.

Protest against the Taliban, 1998.

One Maryknoll sister; a lifetime of service

This is an obituary linked by Ossining Patch. I'm glad they publish these. Sr. Dolores Rosso entered Maryknoll in 1943, at the age of 19. Went into eternal life last month after 77 years of service. Well worth taking two minutes to read about her life.

She was born on February 22nd, 1924 in Philadelphia, PA to Daniel Rosso and Anna (Brennan) Rosso. She was the eldest of five siblings and is survived by her brother Thomas and her sister Marie, who is also a Maryknoll Sister.

Why the Black American vaccine participation is low

 

A very good article in the Guardian (UK).

For some Black Americans, vaccine hesitancy is just one part of a legacy of mistrust

To get the shot, many must overcome their historical memory of unethical medical experiments

By late June, Yolanda Corbett, who lives in Washington DC with her three children, was certain she would not get the Covid-19 vaccine.She wanted to protect her family more than anything, but while the vaccine is a clear sign of hope for most, Corbett wasn’t convinced.

“All of a sudden a country that has literally kept a foot on our necks for years, and even during a pandemic has shown that it has no interest in collectively supporting us as human beings or as a people of color, to put my life and my family’s lives in your hands, to trust that you want to suddenly give me a vaccine that’s going to save us,” Corbett said, adding: “Like, am I willing to gamble that they care this time?”

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

And her hesitancy is also rooted in the historical mistreatment of Black Americans by the US government and medical institutions – whether it was Henrietta Lacks’s stolen cells or the men in Tuskegee, Alabama, left untreated for syphilis in the name of research.

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

Black Americans have borne the brunt of the virus, and are twice as likely to die compared with their white counterparts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In the nation’s capital, while Black residents make up 45% of the population, they account for 76% of the Covid-19 deaths, according to DC government data.

Christopher pointed to pre-existing health conditions and “excess exposure because of economic inequality”, intensified by housing, environmental and healthcare inequities.

America has failed to eradicate the core belief upon which the US was built – a false hierarchy of human value, she said.

“So the permission to experiment on Black men, the permission to use Henrietta Lacks, the permission to devalue the lives and the health and not promote the wellbeing of African Americans – it’s baked into our culture,” Christopher said.

More if you hit the link.

Great Churchill quote - very timely

 

"The water was not fit to drink. To make it palatable, we had to add whisky. By diligent effort, I learned to like it."

            – Winston Churchill

 

WSJ: "Confidential State Department Cable in July Warned of Afghanistan’s Collapse"

It was sent through the "dissent channel". I wonder what that means - they dissented from the consensus view?

About two dozen State Department officials serving at the embassy in Kabul sent an internal memo to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and another top State Department official last month warning of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the Aug. 31 troop withdrawal deadline, according to a U.S. official and a personal familiar with the cable.

The cable, sent via the State Department’s confidential dissent channel, warned of rapid territorial gains by the Taliban and the subsequent collapse of Afghan security forces, and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and speed up an evacuation, the two people said.

The cable, dated July 13, also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban, one of the people said.

C Span: Excerpts from the Defense Secretary and Joint Chiefs head press briefing

UPDATE: This was Wednesday afternoon

About 14 minutes - Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. At least they took questions. It will be interesting when they have to give testimony to congressional committees.

Jesuit outreach receives $20 million from Jeff Bezos ex

Great. Mackenzie Scott.   And she's remarried a school teacher after 25 years of marriage and four children (one daughter adopted from China) with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. 

Here's the recipient group - this link is a three minute video - Homeboy Industries 2020 | Stories Behind the Mission

And an article from the Jesuit publication America -

Homeboy Industries, believed to be the world’s largest reentry organization for formerly incarcerated and gang-involved men and women, is undergoing what board member the Rev. Allan Figueroa Deck, a Jesuit priest, sees as a ‘quantum leap’ in economic stability.

The Los Angeles-based nonprofit founded by the Rev. Gregory Boyle has received $15 million in long-term funding from the state of California and a $20 million gift from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the former spouse of Jeff Bezos.

This is the first time the organization has received this level of funding and monetary gifts, which, Deck said, will “really bring the organization to a new level of capacity” to serve people who have been in prison and involved in gangs.

“It will assure a level of stability in this really important work that it never has had before,” said Deck, who serves on Homeboy Industries’ board of directors.

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

For Deck, the new level of funding signals a shifting mindset around criminal justice. He highlighted the words of Pope Francis, who has talked about a church called “to be a missionary,” in a world that is experiencing “a change of epoch,” as noted by America Magazine.

Deck acknowledges that this change is “not just in the church ... but rather in our whole world.”It might sound a bit utopian, Deck said, but he added: “Now what we’re seeing is, this is real money.

“This is real commitment. This is a real track record. These are solid outcomes in dealing with what is a very ongoing issue that we’ve had not just in our country, but in the world, about the whole question of the rehabilitation of people who break the law,” Deck said. “It’s really quite extraordinary.”

 

The kinder, gentler Taliban - already killed a woman for not wearing a head covering.

From the NY Post. Must be a grim picture - no outlet is showing it.

The killing came amid the group’s version of a charm offensive, after its swift takeover of the country in the absence of US troops, who had been propping up allied military groups since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

A photo emerged of a woman in Takhar province lying in a pool of blood, with loved ones crouched around her, after she was killed by insurgents for being in public without a head covering, according to Fox News.

COVID booster shots - the Moderna President speaks

This is quite revealing and promising. This guy looks like he's about 35 years old. (UPDATE: I looked him up; he's 43 years old.)

 

This month - ratification of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote - meanwhile women in Afghanistan...

Meanwhile women's rights in Afghanistan are dissolving. From Ed Mechmann's blog.

Apropos of the impending disaster for women in Afghanistan, this is a neat story, particularly since today is the anniversary of the ratification of the 19^th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-oddities-arts-and-entertainment-d1e7aef5bd0ce307c93e83a6f2bed8ba

A rare framed photograph of Susan B. Anthony is being auctioned with a starting price of $5,000.

The 20-by-16-inch (51-by-41-centimeter) photo was found in an concealed attic space in a building in Geneva, New York, after the property was sold in December.

One of many tragedies - Afghan adoptions

One story of no doubt many tragedies now and to come - as the family is trying to adopt a 10 year old relative.

"Promising Next Careers For The Now Unemployed Andrew Cuomo"

A very comprehensive list. I've only excerpted the first two on the list; hit the link for the complete list.

Andrew Cuomo has had a rough couple of weeks. As he exits his role as the most desirable bachelor governor of all time, sources say he is excited to look at some new career prospects. According to sources close to Cuomo, here are the options he's currently looking at:

TSA Agent: Or any other government job that will pay him to put his hands all over people.

Retire to a nice pristine New York nursing home: After a full and productive career, maybe it's just time to retire! Since all the retirement homes are empty, he can have his pick of a completely empty facility.

WSJ email: "The Americans Left Behind"

Below the full text of today's daily email - here is yesterday's - WSJ - "Special Editorial Report: Afghanistan"

 

The Americans Left Behind

Frantic efforts to rescue U.S. citizens in Afghanistan.

The chaotic nature of the U.S. exit from Afghanistan has shocked American allies and Americans too—including numerous U.S. citizens who are now trapped inside the Taliban-controlled territory. Some American journalists, contractors and aid workers in the country may have made the mistake of believing President Joe Biden’s July assurances and are now desperately seeking a way out. Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin writes: As the situation on the ground in Afghanistan’s capital continues to deteriorate, thousands of U.S. citizens are trapped in and around Kabul with no ability to get to the airport, which is their only way out of the country. As Taliban soldiers go door to door, searching for Westerners, these U.S. citizens are now reaching out to anyone and everyone back in Washington for help. The Biden administration must get moving on a plan to rescue them before it’s too late. There will be plenty of time later to look back on how and why the 20-year American intervention in Afghanistan failed so miserably, why the U.S. withdrawal was so badly mismanaged and how the U.S. government failed to predict that the Taliban would take over the country with almost no resistance. But right now, the No. 1 job of the U.S. government and the roughly 7,000 U.S. troops in or on their way to Kabul must be to rescue American citizens first and then all the Afghans who risked their lives based on America’s promise of safety... President Biden didn’t address the issue of how the U.S. government will assist Americans who aren’t already at the airport during his remarks to the nation Monday afternoon. Laura Kelly and Brett Samuels report in The Hill: American citizens stuck in Afghanistan who have reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the State Department have been sent an automatic email directing them to fill out a repatriation form and await further instructions...

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Jesuits, Missionaries of Charity, stranded in Afghanistan

This from Vatican News. It seems they are Indian. There is a bit more if you hit the link as the priests describe the chaos. Thanks to Ray for sending me this.

Four Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns are also stranded in Afghanistan and will probably be moved to their countries, UCA News reported. “Our two priests are stuck in Afghanistan and are waiting for their evacuation,” said a Jesuit priest based in the Indian capital New Delhi. “We have also suspended our mission in Afghanistan indefinitely as we are not sure when the situation will improve,” he said. A senior nun at the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in eastern India’s Kolkata city confirmed that four of their nuns are in Afghanistan, including an Indian. She gave no details of the other three, fearing for their safety. The Missionaries of Charity, which St. Teresa of Kolkata founded in 1950, arrived in Kabul in 2004 for humanitarian work.

 

Co-founder of "No One Left Behind" - 45 second comments on Biden's speech

I didn't understand Biden's speech - he aggressively and belligerently defended withdrawing but the majority of the country agrees with the withdrawal. The issue is the way it's been carried out.

The guy in this video is Matt Zeller who says he was saved by his Afghan interpreter. Here's the No One Left Behind website. I certainly can't vouch for anything this guy says or the links. But he seems honest.

WSJ - "Special Editorial Report: Afghanistan"

The following was emailed to Wall Street Journal subscribers. Unfortunately non-subscribers normally cannot access the online version. But sometimes the links do work. I'm posting the entire email text - gives you a gist of how the Journal writers are thinking. I may do the same with some other newspapers.

 

Special Editorial Report: Afghanistan

President Biden is expressing no regrets for the catastrophic and humiliating U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Instead, in a national address Monday afternoon, he doubled down on the “choice” he said he faced: “Following through” on the Trump Administration’s withdrawal deal with the Taliban, or “escalating the conflict.”       That is a false choice, as the editorial board points out. The President had options for a modest U.S. presence in the country to keep the Taliban at bay. Now his decision to follow through has led to a debacle as the U.S. conducts a chaotic evacuation and Afghan citizens flood the capital’s airport in desperation. The comparisons to Saigon are apt, writes Bill McGurn, but the similarity to President Jimmy Carter’s weak handling of the Iranian hostage crisis may be more fitting.       The humanitarian tragedy of the Taliban’s takeover will extend past its initial fight for control. The editorial board reports on the dire straits for translators and other Afghan citizens who have helped American troops and will now be targeted by the Taliban. Bartle Bull Sr. and our columnist Sadanand Dhume write of the radical group’s repression of women and dissenters. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other American progressives know the takeover is a setback for human rights, but they pretend that the U.S. will somehow be able do something now that it has withdrawn from the country.       Not least is the damage to America’s credibility. H.R. McMaster and Bradley Bowman write about the gap between Washington’s perception of the Afghanistan situation and reality. European allies are scrambling to deal with the fallout and evacuate their citizens. Pakistan and China will face consequences too, as Kamran Bokhari writes, and China is already making a deal with the Taliban. Pakistan may regret its support for the Taliban, writes the editorial board.       Columnist Walter Russell Mead recalls Winston Churchill’s comment to Neville Chamberlain after the Munich agreement: “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.” The Taliban gave refuge to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. The U.S. position is nothing if not dishonorable as the Taliban takes power while we remember the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

 

Liz Cheney on the Afghanistan disaster

I suppose I'm showing my "Necon" side but I think Cheney is right. We had about 3,000 people at the Bagram Air  Base and things were at least stable. Now we've had to put 6,000 marines and paratroopers in to evacuate the country. We have tens of thousands of military people in Europe, Japan and Korea so why not leave the small force in Afghanistan? Too late now.

And how good is our word to places like Taiwan and Ukraine? They are probably rethinking things. Worth watching the whole five minutes.  

You probably knew this, but here's why very smart people can be so stupid

The worthwhile article is from the digital magazine Psyche, a British publication. The example they give is perfect - and tragic. Takes less than ten minutes to read. Hit the link for the whole article.

Stupidity is a very specific cognitive failing. Crudely put, it occurs when you don’t have the right conceptual tools for the job. The result is an inability to make sense of what is happening and a resulting tendency to force phenomena into crude, distorting pigeonholes.

This is easiest to introduce with a tragic case. British high command during the First World War frequently understood trench warfare using concepts and strategies from the cavalry battles of their youth. As one of Field Marshal Douglas Haig’s subordinates later remarked, they thought of the trenches as ‘mobile operations at the halt’: ie, as fluid battle lines with the simple caveat that nothing in fact budged for years. Unsurprisingly, this did not serve them well in formulating a strategy: they were hampered, beyond the shortage of material resources, by a kind of ‘conceptual obsolescence’, a failure to update their cognitive tools to fit the task in hand.

Stupidity will often arise in cases like this, when an outdated conceptual framework is forced into service, mangling the user’s grip on some new phenomenon. It is important to distinguish this from mere error. We make mistakes for all kinds of reasons. Stupidity is rather one specific and stubborn cause of error. Historically, philosophers have worried a great deal about the irrationality of not taking the available means to my goals: Tom wants to get fit, yet his running shoes are quietly gathering dust. The stock solution to Tom’s quandary is simple willpower. Stupidity is very different from this. It is rather a lack of the necessary means, a lack of the necessary intellectual equipment. Combatting it will typically require not brute willpower but the construction of a new way of seeing our self and our world.

Such stupidity is perfectly compatible with intelligence: Haig was by any standard a smart man. Indeed, in at least some cases, intelligence actively abets stupidity by allowing pernicious rationalisation: when Harry Houdini, the great illusionist, took Arthur Conan Doyle, the inventor of Sherlock Holmes, through the tricks underlying the seances in which Conan Doyle devoutly believed, the author’s reaction was to concoct a ludicrously elaborate counter-explanation as to why it was precisely the true mediums who would appear to be frauds.

Hit the link for the whole article.

Yonkers passes Rochester as NY's 3rd largest state

The city where I spent my first five years! (Caryl Ave., just north of Van Cortland Park and not shown below. I odn't rmember the actual street address - a long time ago...)

Just 241 people stood between New York's third- and fourth-largest cities in long-awaited data from the 2020 U.S. Census released Thursday. The numbers show Yonkers inched past Rochester, drawing an exclamation from Yonkers' mayor on Twitter, who was quick to celebrate the distinction.

In the past decade, Yonkers' population rose from just under 196,000 to more than 211,500, an 8% increase, according to the data. The exact count listed by the Census was 211,569, putting Yonkers' population at 241 people more than Rochester's.

At 211,328, Rochester is now the fourth largest city. Its population rose slightly in the past decade, by .4%, or 763 people.

Both cities trail Buffalo, the state's second-largest city, with more than 278,000 people. New York City remains the largest city — and the country — with 8.8 million people.

CNN hires Andrew Cuomo as new anchor

From the BB

ATLANTA, GA—Former Governor Andrew Cuomo has resigned in disgrace amid accusations of sexual harassment, but the sky is still the limit for his career, as CNN immediately hired him under a multi-million-dollar contract.

"Between his ability to lie through his teeth, cover up atrocities, and sexually harass women, we think Mr. Cuomo will be a perfect fit for our company culture here at CNN," said CNN President Jeff Zucker. "What a find for our cable news channel! Plus, his brother already works here, and the two have intimate knowledge of each other's scandals. Mr. Cuomo will really hit the ground running here."

"Welcome, Mr. Cuomo!"

At publishing time, CNN had confirmed the Cuomo brothers will star in a new show called "Super Cuomo Bros." where they jump on seniors' heads to murder them and throw fireballs at the elderly.

Living "Your truth"

Yes what a great phrase. And this guy - the Cross Examined guy - is great.

 

Feast of the Assumption tomorrow

One of the major Catholic Marian celebrations. By a special grace at the end of her life Mary is assumed body and soul into heaven. For more art go here

Some commentary from a Carmelite site:

The Assumption is a great feast of hope! In the scripture and related writings for this feast, we learn that God’s plan is that we, like Mary, are destined to share the same glory of heaven, through Christ’s resurrection.

The second reading of today’s feast says: Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep…Just as all people die in Adam, so all people will be brought to life in Christ… All made possible by God’s great love for us.

The Gospel is the story of the joy-filled meeting between the pregnant cousins, Mary and Elizabeth. Filled with the Holy Spirit Elizabeth recognises Mary as ‘the mother of my Lord’ and the child in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist, dances for joy. Elizabeth feels honoured by this visit ‘from the mother of my Lord’ and proclaims Mary blessed because she believed that the promise made to her by the Lord in the Annunciation story would be fulfilled.

Mary’s response to Elizabeth is an outpouring of joy and belief, shared with Elizabeth, but also with us, even in the 21st century. Mary rejoices that this ‘great thing’ that has happened to her, an ordinary, humble person, is a gift from God.

Gov. Cuomo's state management legacy

This from the WSJ. The headline is almost amusing. The op ed a good summation. 

Andrew Cuomo Is Gone, His Economic Mismanagement Not Forgotten. He offered ‘startup’ tax breaks to General Electric, which started in 1892 and chose Boston anyway.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation was memorable, but we shouldn’t forget his policy legacy. New York state was slowly emerging from the Great Recession when he was elected governor in 2010. Amid massive job losses and collapsing revenues, he took office in 2011 with a focus on rebuilding public finances and promoting economic growth.

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By the start of his second term, in 2015, Mr. Cuomo was promoting “economic justice” in the form of a $15 minimum wage, initially restricted to New York City. In his third term, starting in 2019, he sprinted to the left and loudly proclaimed his progressive credentials as a new generation of left-leaning Democrats assumed control of the formerly split Legislature.

Things were different a decade ago. “New York has no future as the tax capital of the nation,” he declared in his 2011 State of the State address. “Our young people will not stay. Our business will not come. This has to change.”

Within six months of taking office, Mr. Cuomo closed a $10 billion budget gap, drew a hard line in contract talks with state employee unions, and persuaded lawmakers to approve a strict 2% cap on annual growth in property taxes. The cap doesn’t apply to New York City, but it’s still among the most significant limited-government reforms ever enacted in the Empire State.

But Mr. Cuomo failed to back up the tax cap with the relief from state mandates that local governments need to manage efficiently. Instead, after a few months of tough talk, he consistently pandered to public-sector labor unions. He nurtured a close alliance with New York City’s overfed building-trades unions, whose generous contracts and inefficient work rules are largely responsible for New York’s excessive capital infrastructure construction costs.

 

Mr. Cuomo’s “economic development” excesses—from the “Buffalo Billion,” which ultimately engendered the federal bribery conviction of his closest aide, to the $15 million “film hub” in Syracuse—are well documented. He managed to bungle even more-modest ideas that had the potential to succeed. In 2014 he unveiled a package of tax relief and other assistance for startup businesses. The program known as START-UP NY was promising, but Mr. Cuomo insisted on exaggerating its scope and likely impact, ballyhooing it as an economic cure-all. Within a few years, he was offering “startup” tax benefits to attract the headquarters of General Electric Co. , which started in 1892—and which chose Boston despite Mr. Cuomo’s blandishments.

 

In other areas, Mr. Cuomo straddled and prevaricated. He broke a campaign promise by repeatedly renewing a “millionaire tax” hike that had been enacted as a temporary measure under his predecessor, David Paterson. Once safely past his 2014 re-election, Mr. Cuomo outlawed hydrofracking in gas-rich Western and Southern Tier regions of upstate New York—consistently the weakest economic performers in the state. In pursuit of a radical California-style environmental agenda, his administration blocked natural-gas pipeline expansions and forced closure of the Indian Point nuclear plant, which was providing a quarter of New York City’s electricity, even as it extended ratepayer subsidies to nuclear plants upstate.

By 2019 New York was more dependent than ever on taxes and wealth generated in and around New York City. Pre-Covid, the top 1% generated more than 40% of New York state’s personal income-tax revenues—the real explanation for Mr. Cuomo’s loud and strenuous opposition to the cap on state and local tax deductions, which effectively raised New York’s combined top rate to its highest level ever.

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Summing up what turned out to be his last budget deal with the Legislature, Mr. Cuomo declared: “This . . . will set the trajectory of the state for the next 10 years.” Unfortunately for New Yorkers, for once he wasn’t exaggerating.

"150,000 evacuated from path of trekking herd" of elephants

Good on China for making the right effort to help the elephants. BBC video - 2 minutes long.

 

A herd of 14 elephants, who have made international headlines with their huge 500km (300-mile) trek across China, are finally on their way home. State media say more than 25,000 police officers using vehicles and drones have monitored the herd, after the protected animals left a nature reserve in Yunnan about 17 months ago. They've been through fields, towns and cities, eating millions of dollars worth of crops and damaging buildings, over the course of their journey and now, more than 150,000 people are being evacuated to make way for them.

Shooting at the Danbury Mall

A 16 year old girl shot in the chest. Hit the link for 2 minute video.

 

https://www.lohud.com/videos/news/local/2021/08/12/danbury-mall-shooting/8104566002/

 

Surprise! Inflation will "last longer than expected"

Well, duh. So predictable. you only need to watch about the first 90 seconds of this - the rest is financial insider stuff.

Columbia U's John McWhorter on Critical Race Theory

This guy is pretty well known - self described liberal Democrat who has issues with Critical Race Theory and Anti-racism slogans.

The show is Firing Line with Margaret Hoover. If you are interested in these issues/buzzwords the episode is worth watching.

"Columbia University linguist and race commentator John McWhorter explains the origins of critical race theory, what the decades-old legal concept has become in today’s national debate and his concerns about antiracism and how it is taught."