The weather people said we got about 4 inches of snow.  I think we got more but it was so wind driven I couldn't prove it.  The way lake effect snow sets up though we could have gotten significantly more than where ever the official data collection site is located.  I have a bit of it to shovel off the patio.  The grounds crew came by twice yesterday to clear the sidewalks.  It is really cold right now--about 0F.  And not likely to get much warmer.  The wind is still brisk.  (AH!!  It is sunny outside now so we may break 20F)

An interesting little piece by Paul Rosenberg at Casey Daily Research:  "Looking for a Reason to Believe: The Benefit of the Doubt is Cracking."  The crux of issue, of giving the benefit of the doubt, is trust.  We trust that somewhere the grievances will be redressed and justice achieved; that the "system" is fair.  When that trust is repeatedly violated no benefit of the doubt can be given.

The title of this Foreign Policy article says exactly what I have been saying for some time: in the Middle East the enemy of my enemy is still an enemy.  We don't have any friends over there and few useful allies.

An amusing story on the morning news: Americans aren't spending the "savings" from lower gas prices or, rather, they aren't spending on new consumption.  They are banking it or paying down their debt.  Hence, retail sales fell unexpectedly last month. That is what happens in a consumer driven economy when the consumer can't or won't consume at expected levels.

The continuing story about Brian Williams also provides some wry amusement.  His only problem is forgetting when he was presenting "news," which most people expect to be true, and entertainment, which can be fictionalized truth or wholly made up fantasy.  That is the problem with "infotainment."  The two strands become so knotted together that you can't tell where one ends and the other begins.