Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
When her former student was found wandering the streets a decade after she’d last seen him, Michell Girard immediately agreed to take him in. Then she decided to do far more, including give him the Christmas he’d never had. . . . Billy died the following day. As word spread around Gatesville that Girard had … Read more
Eastern Kentucky Echo (Echo EK – Eastern Kentucky Edition) If Alexa was Southern Related PostsThe Teamsters’ Imaginary Strike against Amazon Amazon textbook rental service scammed for $1.5m Amazon, Den of Thieves and A**holes Sanctuary Cities and Counties Supreme Court leaves in place Kentucky abortion law mandating ultrasounds
On Jan. 27, 2020, tax-filing season will open. Approximately 155 million 1040 tax forms will be filed by families, not to mention the tens of millions of business tax returns and literally billions of information returns. For its part, the IRS will do its best to process all these tax returns, issue over $320 billion … Read more
Recent articles in respected business journals report that Amtrak lost only $29.8 million in 2019 (out of $3.3 billion in total revenues) and that it expects to make a profit in 2020. This is a remarkable turnaround for a company that cost taxpayers more than $100 billion in its first 49 years of existence. Amtrak … Read more
Considering how many children I would like to have when I am 50 has brought me to the conclusion that I want as many as my husband and I can responsibly care for. So far we have five. When I was a teen and in my early 20s, nobody told me how fulfilling and meaningful … Read more
Beans are healthy—high in protein and fiber and packed with nutrients like iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and more. They’re also an affordable and versatile way to feed your family—a one-pound bag of red kidney beans costs less than $2 and can make up to 11 servings. If you’re a single adult or have a … Read more
When New York State a year ago expanded legal abortion, in a place that had already long been dubbed the abortion capital of the world, some women who had suffered abortions and come to a place of healing through the work of the Sisters of Life or others were astonished that the governor would celebrate … Read more
No major U.S. metropolitan region has lost more people since the 1960s than Pittsburgh. Few have endured an economic calamity as severe as the collapse of its steel industry. Yet, the per capita wealth in Pittsburgh is higher and several indicators of quality of life are better in southwestern Pennsylvania than in most of the … Read more
The decade that just ended saw a period of uninterrupted economic growth. In the decade to come, we’ll pay for squandering it. Since the so-called Great Recession officially ended in the third quarter of 2009, the United States has enjoyed 42 consecutive quarters of solid if unspectacular economic growth. That’s the longest run of uninterrupted … Read more
Yesterday, Borden filed for bankruptcy. Dean Foods filed in November. Please note One of America’s Oldest and Largest Milk Producers Files for Bankruptcy. Borden said it filed for bankruptcy because it cannot afford its debt load and its pension obligations. It has 3,300 employees, 22% of whom are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The … Read more
“To be pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God, we must therefore banish from our hearts the desire to appear before men to win their approval and applause and especially the desire to rule over others.” St. Alphonsus Liguiori Related PostsForgiveness To Politicians: We Don’t Need Your Help Making Good Decisions Post Ridicules Priest … Read more
Five years ago, the plot of land where the Dollar General store sits on Glades Pike was just that: a plot of land of pastoral greenery, located not far from a row of neatly kept homes in an unincorporated village that once briefly boomed as a coal town. Today the familiar, yellow sign with bold, … Read more
“You say, the times are troublesome, the times are burdensome, the times are miserable. Live rightly and you will change the times. The times have never hurt anyone. Those who are hurt are human beings; those by whom they are hurt are also human beings. So, change human beings and the times will be changed.” … Read more
This is a story about Nelson Mandela, and it begins on Robben Island in 1974. Prisoner number 466/64 is writing up his life story, working all night and sleeping all day. Finished pages go to trusted comrades who write comments and queries in the margins. The text is then passed to one Laloo Chiba, who … Read more
I recently blogged about debt-to-income ratios among recent law school graduates from Department of Education data disclosures. … I suggested a “good” ratio would be less than 1.0 (i.e., total debt is less than total entry-level salary), which is a good rule of thumb for college. … I wanted to look at the other end—what … Read more
Larry Harding left his 12-gauge shotgun propped by the door that September night. He feared that otherwise he might shoot the thieves if he stumbled on them in the dark. Instead, he grabbed his camera and went out across the road where they’d raided his ginseng patch the week before. He suspected the bandits would … Read more
“We’re called to have hearts on fire for Christ. It’s not merely about head knowledge, but about allowing Jesus and the Holy Spirit to empower us.” . . . Some years ago, septuagenarian John DeNisi of Irvine, California, was undergoing a series of medical tests which indicated he had cancer in his left lung. Pessimistic … Read more
As Christmas break up at my parents’ house stretched on, I decided to check out a local dying mall that, after a surprise announcement on Christmas Eve, is slated to shut down by the end of January. Or at least evict all its tenants, which may be a distinction with a difference; Phillipsburg Mall’s status … Read more
The devil is a copycat. While most children’s books have a noble goal – to teach, to inspire, to entertain – Satan himself seems to have guided the writing of some new books which are flying off the shelves, encouraging young children to pursue evil. One of the most popular titles among those who would … Read more
Satan hates God. Satan hates you. And Satan hates the Rosary. . . . 6. The Sub-Linguistic is Accessed. Much of our soul work takes place in the realm of emotions. Emotions are not linguistic nor are they imaginative. They are just raw emotions. We feel angry. We feel rage. We feel lust. We feel … Read more
They just wanted to do the right thing. The small town of Middletown, Ohio, a town of 49,000 people, has opened all manner of homeless services. There is everything from soup kitchens and shelters that allow you to be high and drunk to rehab facilities to sober up. And that’s the problem. You can come … Read more
Trump’s New $12 Billion Farm Subsidies and My Thoughts Farmers are getting billions of dollars in bailout money to compensate for the trade war with China. If big banks or big business were being bailed out there would be an uproar but big farmer bailouts seem immune to opposition as Dan Charles points … Read more
The 2019 National Movers Study shows Vermont, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, and South Carolina as the states with the highest proportion of inbound moves. Meanwhile, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, Connecticut, and Kansas saw the highest proportion of outbound migration. Inbound and outbound moves were nearly balanced in Maine, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Where Did Americans Move … Read more
A society that turns its back on holy matrimony and refuses the blessing of children is doomed to fail. . . . Those of my generation might recall the song, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, a hit record by the Kingston Trio, among others, composed by Pete Seeger. Part of the folk music revival … Read more
America’s Basilica By happenstance, the morning of this New Year’s Eve I awoke in a very nice hotel in Baltimore. The night before, walking back from a bite at a bar on Charles Street, I walked past the Baltimore Basilica, just a block from my lodgings. Curious, I Wiki’d it. As someone who … Read more