Tom Faranda's Folly

Dog beeps car horn; saved from an overheated car

Well German Shepherds are pretty smart.

Indiana Cop Adopts German Shepherd He Rescued From Hot Vehicle After It Honked Car Horn to Save Its Life

Police Safety Officer Poe rescued Abby the German Shepherd after she was left suffering in a hot vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel where the temperature was over 90 degrees.

As the situation became severe, Abby honked the horn of the car to try and get attention to her suffering. Abby and a cat were rescued at the scene by PSO Poe, although sadly, the other dog in the vehicle died.

After saving the lives of the two animals, Officer Poe reached out to Indianapolis Animal Care Services to ask whether he could adopt Abby. His request was accepted and the dog has now found a loving home.

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Police officers have arrested a 53-year-old man and 74-year-old woman on charges of animal neglect.

“We want to take this moment remind residents of the city ordinance that states you need to bring your pets inside when it’s over 90 degrees outside or when there’s a heat advisory in effect,” the IMPD Northwest District wrote on its Facebook page.

Sunday wordle

WSJ & NYT editorials - NY Times: "Biden Should Leave the Race." WSJ: "Democrats Can’t Avoid the Biden Problem."

Welcome to the monkey house. The Democratic leaders should have seen this coming. The comment below in the Journal that Nikki Haley would have this election wrapped up is also true of at least ten other republicans.

I have excerpted the Wall Street Journal editorial and the NY Times excerpted editorial is below it.

Well, that was painful—for the United States. President Biden’s halting, stumbling debate performance Thursday night showed all too clearly that he isn’t up to serving four more years in office. For the good of the country, more even than their party, Democrats have some hard thinking to do about whether they need to replace him at the top of their ticket.

This isn’t a partisan thought; it’s a patriotic one. Democrats across the country were privately saying the same thing last night, and some of them on TV not so privately. Mr. Biden lost the debate in the first 10 minutes as he failed to speak clearly, did so in a weak voice, and sometimes couldn’t complete a coherent sentence.

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Mr. Trump began one answer shrewdly by saying his “retribution” would be the “success” of a second term. But then he couldn’t resist saying Mr. Biden deserved to be charged as a criminal, and he didn’t rule out charging him. This sense of personal grievance and fear of four more years of ugly mayhem is the reason Mr. Trump isn’t winning by more than he is. If Nikki Haley were the GOP nominee, the race would be over.

But the bitter truth for Democrats after Thursday is that Mr. Trump’s liabilities may not matter if Mr. Biden is the party nominee. Mr. Trump at least looked vigorous and reminded voters of the pre-Covid economy. Mr. Biden looked like a feeble man no American should want going head to head with Mr. Putin or China’s Xi Jinping.

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

One inevitable question is why those closest to Mr. Biden let him run again. We and many others warned them. It was clearly a selfish act for him to seek a second term. But did they really think they could hide his decline from the public for an entire election campaign? It’s hard to believe they wanted this early debate as a way to change the campaign in their favor.

The debate instead has exposed him and their long cover-up of the truth. If they believe that Mr. Trump is the threat to democracy they claim, they did a disservice to the country by nominating Mr. Biden again.

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A Biden withdrawal would create some temporary panic as Democrats seek a new nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t the answer. But others would come to the fore as candidates, and the Democratic convention would command the attention of the world. You know Mr. Trump is counting on Democrats to stick with Mr. Biden, but the country deserves a better choice.

Here's the NY Times excerpts - you should be able to access the entire article through the link.

At Thursday’s debate, the president needed to convince the American public that he was equal to the formidable demands of the office he is seeking to hold for another term. Voters, however, cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.

The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant. He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term. He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations. He struggled to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans. More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence.

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

As it stands, the president is engaged in a reckless gamble. There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency. There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr. Biden. It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.

If the race comes down to a choice between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden, the sitting president would be this board’s unequivocal pick. That is how much of a danger Mr. Trump poses. But given that very danger, the stakes for the country and the uneven abilities of Mr. Biden, the United States needs a stronger opponent to the presumptive Republican nominee....

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

It should be remembered that Mr. Biden challenged Mr. Trump to this verbal duel. He set the rules, and he insisted on a date months earlier than any previous general election debate. He understood that he needed to address longstanding public concerns about his mental acuity and that he needed to do so as soon as possible.

The truth Mr. Biden needs to confront now is that he failed his own test.

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

The clearest path for Democrats to defeat a candidate defined by his lies is to deal truthfully with the American public: acknowledge that Mr. Biden can’t continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place to defeat Mr. Trump in November.

It is the best chance to protect the soul of the nation — the cause that drew Mr. Biden to run for the presidency in 2019 — from the malign warping of Mr. Trump. And it is the best service that Mr. Biden can provide to a country that he has nobly served for so long.

Friday wordle

How our allies viewed the debate

I didn't watch the debate but did follow some of the follow up commentary  with a few short video "Highlights."  Yesterday I posted this Biden-Trump debate tomorrow - do I care?   and so was partially wrong when I wrote this - "I think Biden will do much better than expected - low bar to get over - and I thought Trump was a very mediocre debater in 2020. Don't expect much from him." I seem to have been right about Trump but very wrong about Biden. Even CNN thinks Biden was a disaster.

Here's the overseas view - hit the link for the whole article.

U.S. Allies Watch the Debate With Shaking Heads and a Question: What Now?

“That whole thing was an unmitigated disaster,” wrote Simon Canning, a communications manager in Australia, on X. “A total shambles, from both the candidates and the moderators. America is in very, very deep trouble.”

Hard to disagree.

Friday cocktails - Epic! Four vodka martini versions in under five minutes!!

Yay! Keeping up the theme from last week. Saturday cocktails: The classic "wet" martini

Thursday wordle - an Ace!

Yay!

Who knew? How - and why - breakfast cereal was invented

"How Cereal Transformed American Culture"

During the early 19th century, most Americans subsisted on a diet of pork, whiskey, and coffee. It was hell on the bowels, and to many Christian fundamentalists, hell on the soul, too. They believed that constipation was God's punishment for eating meat. The diet was also blamed for fueling lust and laziness. To rid America of these vices, religious zealots spearheaded the country's first vegetarian movement. In 1863, one member of this group, Dr. James Jackson, invented Granula, America's first ready-to-eat, grain-based breakfast product. Better known as cereal, Jackson's rock-hard breakfast bricks offered consumers a sin-free meat alternative that aimed to clear both conscience and bowels.

While Jackson's innovation didn't appeal to the masses, it did catch the attention of Dr. John Kellogg. A renowned surgeon and health guru, Kellogg had famously transformed the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan into one of America's hottest retreats. Socialites from the Rockefellers to the Roosevelts flocked to "The San" to receive Kellogg's unorthodox treatments. But shock-therapy sessions and machine-powered enemas weren't the only items on the agenda. Kellogg also stressed such newfangled ideas as exercise and proper nutrition. It wasn't long before he started serving bran biscuits similar to those of Dr. Jackson—only now with the Kellogg name on them. To avoid a lawsuit, he changed the name of the cereal by one letter, dubbing it "Granola."

By 1889, The San was selling 2 tons of granola a week, despite the fact that it was barely edible. The success inspired Dr. Kellogg and his brother, W.K., to produce more-palatable fare. After six years of experimentation, a kitchen mishap by W.K. yielded the breakfast staple known as cereal flakes.

Hit the link above for the rest of the story. This article was originally published in 2014.

                                                                                                               

Wednesday wordle

1st anniversary of losing our great friend Judy Anderson

As Brigid pointed out to me a year before Judy's death from cancer, she was probably my best friend. We worked together in my business for 20 years plus.

Judy Anderson

and

Judy Anderson, co-director Hudson Valley Coalition for Life

 

 

 

Biden-Trump debate tomorrow - do I care?

No not really. I won't be watching it (although Brigid might) but may catch some highlights on youtube and listen to some of the predictably biased (both sides) post debate commentary.

I think Biden will do much better than expected - low bar to get over - and I thought Trump was a very mediocre debater in 2020. Don't expect much from him.

Tuesday wordle

How New Zealand students honor retiring school counselor's

With a Haka of course. This is old (seven years) and has been watched 33 million times. But to watch it, you have to hit the link.

High School Boys from New Zealand chose to give a moving farewell to a veteran teacher with a rousing performance of their best haka dance at an assembly earlier this year. Guidance counsellor John Adams was a teacher at Palmerston North Boys’ High School for 30 years, starting out as a substitute teacher in science and agriculture studies in February 1986.

 

Monday wordle

Got it fairly quickly; more luck than anything else.

Croton Harmon school - pay for teacher's aides, etc.

They need to apply their Diversity Equity and Inclusion mantra to just wages for these people. (Full disclosure: I was on the School Board committee to apply the DEI principles. But fair wages for school district employees never came up.)

Sorry the numbers are set up a bit crooked; but not as crooked as these wages. Maybe I'm wrong; after five years the teacher's aide does get a 20 cent raise.

Sunday wordle

Tough, took ten minutes.

Farandaville: #45 for Tom And Brigid

Yup. Today. To paraphrase Don Imus - "45 years of marriage. That's 32 good years."

The pictures are of our recent train trip in the Lehigh Gorge and a couple of others from our PA trip. I already posted our snake adventure on our hike there.

The open air car which was the one we chose. As the commentator said "In the open air car you will notice the air conditioning only works when the train is in motion."

Here is the info about this ride, on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway.

This is from the snake hike - Brigid likes this picture even though she says it "makes me look like someone's great grandmother."

And this is our Saturday evening meal before departing Sunday,  at Moya the #1 rated restaurant in the town. Excellent! My drink in the foreground is a bourbon manhattan while Brigid had a peach martini. Same size drinks, distorted by the wide angle.

My awesome wife!

We would definitely go back next summer - on the edge of the Poconos - Jim Thorpe PA.

 

 

My friend Lucy hits a milestone birthday!

A surprise birthday party at at Rafele's in Rye, brilliant place. About 50 people there, almost all family, so it was an honor for Brigid and I to attend.

Lucy turns 90 in three days and she is sharp as a tack! Very funny lady who reads 3-4 books a week. Three children and five grandchildren. Going strong so hope for us all.

With her granddaughter Caroline

Here we go -

She lost her husband John - wonderful guy - ten years ago. The family have been clients of mine for over 25 years.

Great extended family, love them all!

 

Alan Dershowitz - Trump gag order violates freedom of speech

Dershowitz - well know Democrat lawyer and scholar.

Mr. Dershowitz is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of “Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday asked Judge Juan Merchan to keep his gag order against Donald Trump in place even though his trial has concluded. If the judge does so, Mr. Trump’s lawyers will almost certainly appeal the decision. But Mr. Trump isn’t the only victim of this ill-advised gag order. It violates your First Amendment rights and mine as well.

It is likely that during the debate President Biden will call Mr. Trump a “convicted felon.” The Democratic Party has spent millions of dollars in campaign ads focusing on the New York criminal convictions. Those who watch the debate and who have seen the Democratic attack ads have a First Amendment right to hear Mr. Trump’s full replies. We have the right to evaluate his views on the witnesses, jurors and judge’s daughter. Just as no one is above the law, no one is above criticism regarding the legal process. Mr. Trump may overstate and even distort his complaints, but in the marketplace of ideas protected by the First Amendment, all of us—not the New York courts—have a right to judge him on what he says.

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The prosecutors’ filing includes an affidavit attesting that the New York City Police Department has logged 56 “actionable threats” against Mr. Bragg, his family and employees. Threats demand action from the NYPD, but they don’t justify gagging Mr. Trump’s speech. Supreme Court justices have been the target of many threats and at least one assassination attempt in recent years, but the government can’t suppress criticism of their decisions on that basis.

The Trump team may eventually ask the Supreme Court to take up the gag order. Whether it does is up to the justices. But when they consider this important issue, they should take into account the right of the voting public in addition to the right of the candidate and his party. The marketplace of ideas shouldn’t allow one candidate to take unfair advantage of a questionable conviction while the other candidate has one hand tied behind his back by a questionable gag order.

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And consider the following possibility: Mr. Trump loses a close election. Polls show that his loss might have been attributable, at least in part, to the effectiveness of the Biden ads about his conviction, coupled with Mr. Trump’s inability to respond fully. After the election, a higher court reverses the conviction and condemns the prosecutor for having brought it. Imagine the outcry among Americans who voted for Mr. Trump.

There would be considerable pressure on the appellate judges to affirm the conviction precisely to avoid this troubling scenario. It’s another way in which the politicization of the courts poses a threat to due process and the rule of law.

Saturday wordle

Saturday cocktails: The classic "wet" martini

A Saturday cocktail because I didn't get it posted for yesterday! Called a wet martini as opposed to the dry martini which has very little vermouth. In this version the ratio is two parts gin to one part dry vermouth. Plus you get quite a bit of martini history from good ol' Anders. 

Friday wordle

Took under three minutes. Luck and a bit of skill.

 

NBC: DA Alvin Bragg drops charges against most Columbia U protesters

Funny that the NBC report doesn't even mention Alvin Bragg's name. But you know it was his call. So I was wrong in that I thought they'd all get ACD'd (adjourned contemplating dismissal) and have to keep their noses clean for six months to have the slate wiped clean. But nope, home free. Meanwhile our friend Joan gets a 27 month sentence for sitting on the floor of an abortion site and saying the rosary. "Pro-lifers imprisoned under FACE Act speak out"  YUP. 27 months. She's in federal prison now.

The 31 people whose cases were dismissed were students or staff at Columbia, Barnard or Union Theological Seminary.Of the defendants who would have later had their cases dismissed, pending no further arrests, 12 were not staff members or students at Columbia and two were students, the district attorney’s office said.

During the court appearances Thursday afternoon, a prosecutor said the defendants do not have criminal histories and that they will face internal disciplinary proceedings at Columbia.

A Columbia University official said the disciplinary process is ongoing but declined to comment further.

The prosecutor said it would have been “extremely difficult” to prove the dismissed cases because the district attorney’s office lacks evidence, including surveillance footage from cameras that were covered up. The fact that some of the defendants wore masks also made it difficult to identify their specific actions.

An attorney for the defendants asked the court to immediately dismiss the charges against all of the accused, saying there are no allegations that the defendants hurt people or damaged property.

In the downtown courtroom, some of the defendants wore face masks and some wore kaffiyehs, which are distinctly patterned Palestinian scarves. At least two wore sunglasses.

As the hearings began, police confiscated what appeared to be a protest sign found under one of the seats.

When a prosecutor told the court that Carlson was accused of burning an Israeli flag, some of the defendants seated in the room could be heard snickering. A police officer instructed them to be quiet.

WSJ: "Why Republicans Don’t Abandon ‘Felon’ Trump"

I'm constantly told by my many Trump-hating friends what a bum he is - actually using more colorful language than that - and all the horrible things the Trump dictatorship will bring. 

Beside the excerpts from the long Journal article below here's another example of turning the "Justice" Department loose on people - in this case nonviolent prolife protestors engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience. "Pro-lifers imprisoned under FACE Act speak out"  The sentences run for different individuals from 27 months to 57 months. It's an absurdity. This is why I am rethinking my original idea of doing a write-in for President (my usual candidate, my friend Theresa). Not sure whether i will do a write-in or not.  

Here's the Journal -

Mr. McConnell is a professor at Stanford Law School and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He served as a judge on the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals, 2002-09.

They see the Democrats’ political use of the justice system as a more serious threat to democracy.

Most Democrats I know have persuaded themselves of the righteousness of criminally prosecuting Donald Trump to keep him from becoming president again. How, they ask, can any respectable person defend Mr. Trump now that he is a felon?

Many Republicans who have never been Trump supporters—who are disgusted by his personal immorality, appalled by his inflammatory and often uninformed rhetoric, and unconvinced by his claims that the 2020 election was stolen—believe that Democratic prosecutors are waging lawfare against Mr. Trump. Many Republicans who condemned his part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and thought he should have been impeached and convicted for it now consider the legal crusade against Mr. Trump to be as threatening to democracy as what happened that day. Democrats need to understand why.

The charges against Mr. Trump in New York were bogus. The hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels weren’t illegal. It was the labeling of those payments as legal fees that constituted the crime—but that is a misdemeanor in New York, for which the statute of limitations ran out in 2019. The falsification of business records becomes a felony, with a five-year statute of limitations, only when done with the intent to conceal the commission of another crime.

What was this other crime? The indictment didn’t say, and each juror was allowed to choose from any of three theories—which means that Mr. Trump could well have been convicted by a jury that hobbled together three different legal theories, even if a majority of jurors rejected each one.

Toward the end of the trial, the prosecutors focused on a New York statute that forbids attempts to “influence” an election through “unlawful means.” Their theory—that all these shenanigans were designed to hide Mr. Trump’s immorality from the voters ahead of the 2016 election—might be true. There is, however, an insuperable problem with this theory. The payments to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen that were unlawfully categorized as legal fees were made after the 2016 election. The business-records crimes couldn’t possibly have been committed with the intent to influence the outcome of a contest that was already over. It follows that Mr. Trump was wrongly convicted.

Republicans, independents and fair-minded Democrats are therefore justified in regarding the New York case as an abuse of the system, brought with the intention of affecting the 2024 election. District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution was a far clearer and more dangerous attempt to influence voters than were mislabeled payments to Mr. Cohen. No wonder so many people tell pollsters they were unmoved by the verdict, or that they will vote for Mr. Trump because of it.

The broader context makes it worse. Mr. Bragg openly campaigned on a vow to hold Mr. Trump and his family “accountable.” It is one thing for a prosecutor to promise to pursue crimes of concern to the public. But Mr. Bragg didn’t pursue particular crimes; he pursued a particular defendant, who happened to be the other party’s candidate for president.

Judge Juan Merchan made a small contribution to a political group favoring Joe Biden and opposing Mr. Trump in the 2020 election. This earned the judge a rebuke from the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Rules prohibit sitting judges from making campaign contributions, even small ones. Judge Merchan therefore should have recused himself from the Trump trial. A judge who is caught improperly opposing a political candidate can’t be considered unbiased in a trial of that candidate.

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Mr. Trump faces three other criminal cases. With one exception, each of these cases rests on vague and untested legal theories. The exception is the prosecution for unauthorized retention of classified documents after he left office. Those charges look to have a solid factual foundation. But here too, the odor of selective prosecution is hard to escape. Not only did Mrs. Clinton mishandle classified documents, so did Mr. Biden. In fact, he shared them with a ghostwriter after leaving the vice presidency. Special counsel Robert Hur determined that Mr. Biden’s actions were “willful” but declined to prosecute, largely because of doubts as to how a jury would perceive the president’s memory and mental capacity. Apparently, Mr. Biden is sharp enough to lead the country for the next 4½ years but not sharp enough to stand trial.

Bottom line: Both candidates for president appear to have violated the same law; the one in power is excused and his opponent faces trial.

Using the criminal-justice system to handicap the opposing political party is a deep-dyed violation of democratic norms—something we expect from authoritarian regimes, not in a mature, well-functioning democracy. This isn’t to say that members of the opposing party ought to be exempt from prosecution, but any such prosecution should be for real crimes that would be brought against defendants of either party. If Democrats want to be taken seriously when they claim to be defending democracy, they should take a long, hard look in the mirror and see the damage they are doing.

Thursday wordle

Willie Mays - his four home runs in one game in 1961

"Say Hey". 18 players have hit four home runs in one game. In two of the games, the team giving up the four homers won! No one has ever hit five.

Willie Mays against the Braves.

 

Wednesday wordle

Yankees Legend John Sterling About His Sudden Retirement From Broadcasting

An interview. He's 85 years old but says he's in good shape physically.

"I really knew it in my heart. I should've announced it in spring training or before spring training," Sterling said to Jon Heyman on The Show podcast. "But I figured I'd give it a shot. I was going to do a limited schedule—maybe 100 games, 110 games or whatever. I just found it very tough to keep going to the ball games. "My boss—the [Audacy New York] general manager, terrific guy—Chris Oliviero—is so nice to me. I think I could've worked out where I would do just home games. But, you know, I didn't want to get up every day and shave and shower and look beautiful to broadcast the games."

Sterling also assured Yankees fans that he's doing just fine in retirement and has no regrets about his decision.

"I'm very much happier this way. I have no problems," Sterling said to Heyman. "I have no worries about, 'Oh, I want to do it now.' No, I'm fine. Everything is good. And people did worry that there is something physically wrong with me, and that's untrue. Completely untrue. ... That's not the case at all."

Tuesday wordle Ugh! Another miss, breaking 20 day streak

Rats. The word was COVER

Willie Mays, baseball's second greatest all time player. Gone at 93 years old.

 Behind Babe Ruth of course. Mays was a much better fielder, but Ruth's batting average (342) was forty points higher than Mays, AND Ruth had 99 wins as a pitcher.

But Mays was a great, great player and a great gentleman who cared for his wife who had Alzheimer's the last 15 or so years of her life.

Here is the iconic catch he made in the first game of the 1954 World Series.  Mays was 23 years old. The "Say Hey" Kid.

 

NY Times: "Resistance to a New Trump Administration Has Already Started"

No surprise. And the article has four co-authors.

By Charlie Savage, Reid J. Epstein, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan

• June 16, 2024

A sprawling network of Democratic officials, progressive activists, watchdog groups and ex-Republicans has been taking extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency, drawn together by the fear that Mr. Trump’s return to power would pose a grave threat not just to their agenda but to American democracy itself. “Trump has made clear that he’ll disregard the law and test the limits of our system,” said Joanna Lydgate, the chief executive of States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan democracy watchdog organization that works with state officials in both parties. “What we’re staring down is extremely dark.”

 

Monday wordle

Farandaville snake trifecta while in Pennsylvania!

So Brigid and I did a long weekend - Thursday to Sunday, in Jim Thorpe PA. which is in the Lehigh Valley and on the edge of the Poconos.

Saturday we did a 3.6 mile hike on the Tank Hollow Trail, north of the town. Nice easy to moderate hike ending in a lovely view of the Lehigh Gorge. We knew from comments on the AllTrails website that rattlesnakes regularly sun themselves on the rocky outcrop you stand on for the view. And as we hiked in, one man leaving and a couple also leaving said there was a rattler and a black snake (looks formidable but harmless) at the outcrop.  And before we got to the outcrop we came across this guy - a garter snake - size comparison (he/she was small) you can see the tip of my trekking pole -

a few minutes later we arrived at the outcrop for the wonderful view and after a bit of scrambling I took this picture. Brigid is just out of view to the
right.

And when I turned around, about six feet behind me, curled up partially sheltered by a ledge, was the rattlesnake having a snooze. I took several pictures, and this shows the trekking pole, again to give an idea about the size. I think he was over two feet long - maybe close to three.

Just to confirm he's a rattlesnake, here's a view of the rattle.

After a few minutes gawking at the rattlesnake I looked up and there under another ledge about 20 feet away and between Brigid and myself was the blacksnake!

So three snakes in 15 minutes. I have seen many black snakes in the Hudson Valley but this is only the second time I'd seen a rattle snake - the first time while hiking upstate with the Gagnon family a number of years ago. Rural Pennsylvanians seem pretty blase about rattlers; they talk about them the way we might talk about squirrels. Evidently they (the rattlers not the Pennsylvanians) are docile, but don't inadvertently step on one - so say the Pennsylvanians.... 

 

 

 

Friday, Saturday and Sunday wordles

Kept the streak going while we were away - long weekend in Jim Thorpe, PA - and will be posting about our adventures. It was too difficult and too much trouble to post these while away, but I did nail all three of them

Friday -

Saturday

Sunday

Father's Day - "Guinness Beer: Is it Actually Good for You?"

Stupid question. Of course it is.

Guinness, like other Irish stouts, enjoys a seasonal popularity every St. Patrick’s Day. It has also been touted as being “good for you,” at least by its own advertising posters decades ago. But can this creamy, rich and filling beer really be added to a list of healthy beverages? Or is its reputation just good marketing? We researched the beer’s history and talked to brewing experts and break out the good, the not-so-great and the ingenuity of Guinness.

Brigid: "Why you have to grow old, but you don't have to grow up"

Yes that's Farandaville philosophy -

George Santayana

George Santayana was a Spanish-born American writer and philosopher in the early 20th century. A prolific man of letters, Santayana believed in the human capability to learn, regardless of age. He resigned his post at Harvard University after only five years to pursue his own studies, which led him to publish numerous works — from novels to philosophy treatises. His words here remind us that real youth is mental, not physical: In staying curious and lighthearted, we can experience youth at any age.

Friday cocktail - The Boulevardier

Huge Farandaville favorite - The "Man about Town." We keep (more or less) to the classic 1:1:1 ratio- the recipe below has slightly more whiskey . This is excerpted from liquor.com.

Loosely translated, a boulevardier is a man-about-town. A cocktail by the same name was created by Erskine Gwynne, the publisher of “Boulevardier,” a magazine for expats living in Paris during the 1920s. The drink was popularized after it was included in Harry MacElhone’s 1927 book “Barflies and Cocktails.” In it, the author credited the cocktail to Gwynne, a regular at MacElhone’s bar. It’s a tidy story, like the drink it inspired.

Employing whiskey, sweet vermouth and Campari, the Boulevardier is simply a variation on the classic Negroni that is adored for its deft balance of bitter, boozy and sweet. The difference in flavor, however, is anything but simple. While the gin-based Negroni is crisp and bracing, the whiskey-based Boulevardier is rich and warming. It’s the exact drink you want to reach for on a chilly fall or winter evening.

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Most recipes utilize bourbon, though some people prefer the spicier quality of rye whiskey. Both have their charms, but today you’re most likely to find the Boulevardier made with bourbon.

Ingredients

• • 1 1/4 ounces bourbon (or rye)

  • 1 ounce Campari

  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth

  • Garnish: orange twist

 

Thursday wordle

A tough one.

Trump interprets & explains the Bible

What would Pope Francis think of this hermeneutic?

 

Wednesday wordle

"Inside the revolt at the Wall Street Journal"

This is off National Review Online (NRO). I had not noticed much of a change in priority and I read the Journal very carefully. Easily the best newspaper in the country for news and financial reporting and keeping opinions on the opinion pages.

Eleven current and former newsroom veterans, who spoke to National Review on a condition of anonymity, said that Emma Tucker, the Journal’s new editor in chief, appears to lack a basic understanding of American government, politics, and culture. They say she seems to be prioritizing less serious lifestyle stories with snappy headlines over hard-hitting accountability journalism.

And they worry that several moves she has made — including cutting jobs from the team responsible for editing sensitive stories and weeding out any hints of bias, and hiring a Washington, D.C., bureau chief who just published a book highly critical of former president Donald Trump — could lead to readers losing confidence in a paper that has historically been unique for having high levels of trust from across the political spectrum.  

Tucker, who came to the Journal from the United Kingdom, has painted the changes she’s implemented as part of a new “reader-first” strategy aimed at modernizing the highly profitable but sometimes stodgy paper, in part by diversifying its readership beyond its core audience of wealthy, white businessmen. Her team argues that there has never been a push for “less serious” stories. And they say that while change is hard, it is necessary.

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

Working at the Journal under Tucker has “turned from a dream job to just a slow-rolling nightmare,” said one former staffer. Another called morale at the paper, particularly in the D.C. bureau, “the worst of any workplace I’ve ever been in my career.”

“People are fearful of their jobs,” the staffer said. “They don’t know who’s next. They have no confidence in the new leadership.”

The most recent cuts took place on May 30, when at least eight staffers in bureaus across the country received invites to an online meeting with a New York editor and a human-resources representative for an “organizational update.” On the call, they were quickly and unceremoniously terminated, a process that some called “callous” but at the same time “sterile and official.”

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The U.S. News layoffs came less than four months after what is known internally as “Bloody Thursday,” the day in early February when Tucker took a scythe to the Washington, D.C., bureau, slashing the jobs of about 30 newsroom staffers, including chopping jobs from the economics team and eliminating a team focused on Washington’s relations with China. 

That was preceded by the removal of the bureau’s well-respected chief, Paul Beckett, who was reassigned after staffers say he fought the cuts.

Beckett was replaced as Washington bureau chief by Damian Paletta, a former Washington Post editor fresh off of writing a book critical of Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a move that raised eyebrows among some staffers, Paletta included Trump as one of the bureau’s four 2024 election-coverage focus areas but left out coverage of Joe Biden, the sitting president.

In an interview with National Review, Paletta said the four topics are informal, and he denied that the bureau is taking it easy on Biden, pointing to a recent story about reports of the president’s “slipping” mental acuity.”

Hit the link above if you want the whole story.

Tuesday wordle

Hunter Biden found guilty on gun charge

Wow. And sad in many ways. From the NY Times -

A jury in Wilmington, Del., on Tuesday found Hunter Biden, President Biden’s long-troubled son, guilty of three felony counts of lying on a federal firearms application in 2018, a grievous personal blow to the Biden family as his father enters the final months of a brutal re-election campaign. He could face up to 25 years in prison, but first-time offenders who did not use their weapons to commit a violent crime typically receive no jail time.

Monday wordle

Another close one.

Trump perfectly analyzes 7 historic battles, including LOTR and Star Wars

Including - Lord of the Rings the Siege of Helms Deep and the ice planet Hoth battle!

 

Sunday wordle

Yanks v. Dodgers - World Series preview?

Could be - two excellent teams. At the Stadium the third game of their three game series - Dodgers won the first two. Exciting highlights - the shorter, 3 minute version is below the full highlights

 

Pope Francis: Overpopulation is a myth, world needs more children

Yes totally true - and here's a recent 5 minute CNBC business interview 10 days ago regarding this issue if you doubt it. birth rate decline

While visibly ageing, Pope Francis is going strong at 87. He had something important to say on the tenth of May. The following headline, from a Latter Day Saint-friendly outlet, brilliantly summarised his remarks

Have the courage to have children despite climate change and wars, Pope Francis says: The pontiff asks nations to help women juggle motherhood and work, create job security for young people and help couples buy homes.

Francis frequently weighs in about family and fertility. It is heartening that he hammers away at this. His May 10 remarks were at the States General on Natality, a yearly confab sponsored by the Italian government to reverse the country’s falling fertility. The title of this year’s meeting was “Being there: More youth, more future.”

Saturday wordle

A close call!

The Belmont Stakes - full race

The winner at 17-1 so not one of the favorites.