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DECEMBER 25,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

LOW GAS PRICES SPUR MORE TRAVEL – FROM THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER:   Gas prices have been steadily falling since October and continue to drop.  On Christmas Eve, the national average was $2.322 per gallon, setting a low for 2018, according to AAA...The savings also may contribute to more holiday traffic, as travelers opt to pack up the car and drive to visit family or winter vacation spots. “Motorists are getting a gift this holiday in the form of relief at the pump,” Tiffany Wright, AAA Carolinas spokesperson, said in a news release. “This may be a factor in the boost of travelers choosing to drive this year.”  AAA forecasts that one in three Americans will travel during this holiday season — a 4.4 percent increase from last year and perhaps the most ever. In the Carolinas alone, 4.7 million people are expected to travel, and more than 90 percent will choose to drive.  This year, the national average gas price peaked at $2.97 per gallon over Memorial Day weekend. The cold weather dip can be credited to a global surplus of crude oil. The Energy Information Administration reported last month that domestic oil production is at an all-time high.  Democrats are having a fit.  They thought all cars were now run by Energizer batteries.

SOLID SALES – FROM FOX:  Holiday sales increased for U.S. retailers at the best pace in six years, according to early data.  Total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose 5.1% between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending with all forms of payment.  Overall, U.S. consumers spent over $850 billion this holiday season, according to Mastercard.  The figures suggest a stock-market swoon and partial government shutdown haven’t curbed consumer confidence and spending, according to the Wall Street Journal.  That's good.  Many jobs depend on these sales, and I hope Christmas was a little more restful for those who worried that the Stock Market decline might threaten their livelihood.

GOOD NEWS FOR EATERS – FROM THE DETROIT FREE PRESS:  Readers, we are honored and privileged to bring you the single greatest piece of news you've heard in your entire life.  A study out of the University of California-Irvine has revealed that consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol and coffee is linked to living a longer life.  Re-read that last sentence. There are no typos. There are no jokes.  The key word is "moderate," of course. The study, called "The 90+ Study," started in 2003 and examined "the oldest-old" age group - about 1,700 nonagenarians - to determine what is key to living to your 90th birthday and beyond.  The study has found, among other things, that people "who drank moderate amounts of alcohol or coffee lived longer than those who abstained," and that "people who were overweight in their 70s lived longer than normal or underweight people did."  We like to bring good news.

December 25, 2018       Permalink

PROVED!  IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE – AT 1:58 P.M. ET:   We now have a study that demonstrates the old wisdom that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  From Study Finds:

CHICAGO — In this season of giving and getting, the findings are in. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

According to two new studies conducted by researchers with the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, giving to others rather than to ourselves makes us happier.

Have you ever noticed that your enjoyment in a repeated activity or event decreases over time no matter how wonderful it is? When this happens, you are experiencing what researchers call hedonic adaptation. The joy of having our own desires met is always fleeting. Perhaps surprisingly, however, giving to others creates a more lasting happiness.

“If you want to sustain happiness over time, past research tells us that we need to take a break from what we’re currently consuming and experience something new,” says study co-author Ed O’Brien, of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, in a release from the Association for Psychological Science. “Our research reveals that the kind of thing may matter more than assumed: Repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical others, may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more that we do it.”

In the first experiment, 96 college student participants were given $5 each day for five days. The students were told to spend the money on exactly the same thing each day. Some of the participants were randomly assigned to spend the money on themselves, while some were assigned to spend the money on others — maybe an online donation to the same charity each day or even cash placed in a tip jar at the same café.

Participants self-reported at the end of each day how they felt about the money they had spent, and how they rated their overall happiness.

The results of the daily spending challenge showed a clear pattern. While participants began with very similar levels of happiness, the students who had spent money on themselves felt decreasingly happy over the five-day period. Conversely, participants who gave their money to someone else, however, continued to feel the same level of joy on the fifth day as they did on the first day.

COMMENT:   A very good lesson in life, and one with moral and religious implications.

December 25, 2018       Permalink

MERRY CHRISTMAS, BUT THINK OF CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDEAST – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:  Mideast Christians are in crisis this Christmas, but you'd never know it from press coverage.  The trendies scream "Islamophobia," but seem to have little interest in the plight of Christians in Muslim countries.  From The Hill: 

As Christians around the world celebrate the nativity of our savior, we gather in churches and hear the story of a Middle East where the holy family, as religious minorities in the Roman Empire, witnessed the birth of Christ, far from their hometown. We will recall that they then fled to Egypt as political refugees.

Two thousand years later, the Christian communities of the Middle East — descendants of the first Christians — persevere in their faith in Christ. They live in an era of violence, unrest and persecution. Many have been forced to flee their homes, and many more their countries.

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, recently wrote of the plight of Christians in the Middle East, stating: “Many have left. Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes.” He warned that “across the region Christian communities that were the foundation of the universal Church now face the threat of imminent extinction.” I am sorry to say the archbishop is not overstating the dire nature of the plight faced by Christian communities throughout the region.

Lebanon, the last safe home to Christians in the Middle East, has generously welcomed a great number of Syrians fleeing their country's civil war. A nation of 4 million people is hosting an estimated 2 million refugees and displaced people, the highest per-capita home to refugees in the world. This population increase has presented legitimate challenges to Lebanon’s infrastructure, economy and education system. After seven years of conflict in Syria, with no end in sight, more children are born in Lebanon to displaced people and refugees than to Lebanese citizens.

Lebanon’s delicate, pluralistic balance of power between faith groups could be toppled in a complete redrawing of the demographic map. The lack of a roadmap for charting the safe return of refugees and displaced people to Syria is not providing a viable future for these victims. 

In northern Iraq’s former breadbasket, the Nineveh Plains, the ancient Christian and Yazidi communities are slowly returning and rebuilding their homes, but they are a skeleton of what they once were. The Christian population of Iraq has dropped from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 250,000 today. Those who remain are in a struggle to keep their culture and heritage alive in a place where their families have celebrated Christmas since the time of Christ.

In Egypt, the Coptic Church was again the target of terrorist violence in recent months. In 2017 alone, 128 Coptic Christians were killed because of their faith. Churches have been bombed, pilgrims have been targeted and Christian homes have been vandalized. Attacks on the Coptic community have been horrific and they are tragically leaving Egypt in record numbers.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  The political left shows no interest at all in the plight of Mideast Christians, and the news outlets follow in silence.  This will only change when the voices speaking out on behalf of Christians are louder and more focused. 

December 25,  2018     Permalink

DECEMBER 24,  2018

WE DON'T PUBLISH ON CHRISTMAS EVE, OUT OF RESPECT.  HAVE THE BEST CHRISTMAS, AND STAY AWAY FROM POLITICS FOR A DAY.

INSANE DEMOCRATS – AT 12:53 P.M. ET:   We noted in the post below that the best things President Trump has going for him are the incompetence and unpopularity of the Democratic Party.  Exhibit A:  the party's creative work in alienating traditionally Democratic voters. 

Historically, American Catholics have been strongly Democratic.  But, starting with Roe v. Wade, the Democrats have worked hard, even overtime, to drive away those with traditional Catholic beliefs about life.  And now get this one.  From Fox: 

Two Democratic senators are scrutinizing a federal judicial nominee over his membership in the Knights of Columbus, drawing a stern rebuke from the Catholic organization.

Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, raised concerns about Omaha-based lawyer Brian Buescher's membership as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee's review of his nomination by President Trump to sit on the U.S. District Court in Nebraska, as first reported by the Catholic News Agency.

In a series of questions sent to Buescher, Hirono asked whether his membership in the Knights of Columbus would prevent him from hearing cases “fairly and impartially” and, if confirmed, whether he would end his membership in the Roman Catholic charitable organization.

“The Knights of Columbus has taken a number of extreme positions,” Hirono said in the questionnaire. “For example, it was reportedly one of the top contributors to California’s Proposition 8 campaign to ban same-sex marriage.”

In his response, Buescher argued that the Knights of Columbus’s official positions on issues do not represent every one of the group’s members and said he would recuse himself from hearing cases where he saw a conflict of interest.

“The Knights of Columbus does not have the authority to take personal political positions on behalf of all of its approximately two million members,” Buescher wrote. “If confirmed, I will apply all provisions of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges regarding recusal and disqualification.”

Harris, in her questions to the nominee, called the Knights of Columbus “an all-male society” and asked the Nebraska lawyer if he was aware that the group was anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage when he joined. The California senator also referenced Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson’s statement that abortion amounted to “the killing of the innocent on a massive scale” and asked Buescher if he agreed with the statement. 

COMMENT:  Can you imagine if similar questions were asked of a Muslim?  Can you just imagine?  I hope the GOP has the zeal and imagination to point out to voters the anti-religious bigotry of a party that used to care about people of faith.

Kamala Harris for president anyone?

December 24, 2018       Permalink

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:   And no one's happy.  The economy is ending 2018 on a wobbly note, and the political implications for 2019, absent a quick recovery, are ominous.  From Bloomberg: 

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell to the lowest since May 2017 as the turmoil in Washington kept investors on edge after the worst week for American equities in almost a decade. Crude sank below $45 a barrel and the dollar tumbled.

The S&P 500 slid for a fourth day, edging ever closer to a bear market after breaking below 2,400, while the Dow dropped more than 300 points. The broader index is down 14 percent this month, headed for its worst December since the Great Depression. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was 40 percent above the 30-day average on a day that’s normally subdued ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Investors looking to Washington for signs of stability that might bolster confidence instead got further rattled. President Donald Trump blasted the Federal Reserve, blaming the central bank for the three-month equity rout days after Bloomberg reported he inquired about firing the chairman.

The comments came after Steven Mnuchin called a crisis meeting with financial regulators, who reportedly told the Treasury secretary that nothing was out of ordinary in the markets. Traders also assessed the threat to the economy from a government shutdown that looks set to persist into the new year.

“I don’t know that you can read too much into the markets reaction today but it’s signaling they’re not impressed,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at the Independent Advisor Alliance. “If we were up, I’d potentially say the message he was sending was well received but it seems like now they’re largely ignoring that message.”

COMMENT:  I think that's a reasonable assessment.  The president had a terrible week, with the real damage done not by the government shutdown, but by his Syria decision and the way he made it.  In parliamentary systems, when a government is brought down it's usually by a "no confidence" vote in the parliament.  And I do believe that last week marked the worst loss of confidence in President Trump that we've seen in his administration.

Always watch for breaks in support from a leader's own party.  On Syria, we saw immediate opposition from key Republicans.

The greatest things the president might have going for him are the incompetence and unpopularity of the Democratic Party.  But that's like saying that the greatest thing the Titanic had going for it was that there weren't that many icebergs.

December 24, 2018       Permalink