Leah Pezzetti's Fourth of July Forecast

It's going to be a little cooler than normal today, but beautiful and clear for tonight's July 4th fireworks.

Here's the lovely Ms. Leah, for ABC News 10 San Diego:

Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, The Triumph of Injustice

At Amazon, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay.

MacKenzie Scott (Bezos) Marries Seattle Private School Teacher

Talk about "lifestyles of the rich and famous."

I mentioned this piece earlier to my wife and I erroneously suggested that the ex-Mrs. Bezos got "$4 billion" out of her marriage settlement, but I must have been confused the the amount of money she's already given away, which is indeed $4 billion --- and she's only got $53 billion to go!

Must be nice. I mean, I think my wife and I would be fine with a cool billion, lol.

In any case, she's a likable lady, from what little I've seen of her on TV, and she's still relatively young. Now, marrying a "private school teacher" is kinda funny to me, especially since the guy sounds like a kooky "Seattle socialist," ready to "spread" his new wife's wealth. I doubt, in any case, they'll be living in poverty-level accommodations, so, yeah, a life of "privilege" has its perks. *Eye-roll.*

At WSJ, "Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, Ex-Wife of Jeff Bezos, Marries Seattle School Teacher":

MacKenzie Scott, the philanthropist formerly married to Jeff Bezos, has married again following her 2019 divorce from the Amazon.com Inc. founder, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ms. Scott, one of the world’s wealthiest women, has married Dan Jewett, a science teacher at a Seattle private school, according to the person.

Ms. Scott has devoted much of her time recently to philanthropic efforts benefiting women-led charities, food banks and Black colleges, among other institutions. Since her divorce, Ms. Scott has given away more than $4 billion of her fortune, according to a post she wrote on Medium in December.

In a post dated Saturday on Ms. Scott’s page on the Giving Pledge website, for billionaires who have promised to donate most of their fortune to philanthropic efforts, Mr. Jewett signed on to her commitment.

“It is strange to be writing a letter indicating I plan to give away the majority of my wealth during my lifetime, as I have never sought to gather the kind of wealth required to feel like saying such a thing would have particular meaning,” Mr. Jewett’s post says.

“Dan is such a great guy, and I am happy and excited for the both of them,” said Mr. Bezos in a statement provided by an Amazon spokesman.

Ms. Scott and Mr. Jewett couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Sunday...

Still more.

 

Winter Storm Creates Havoc Across the U.S. (VIDEO)

I was in Houston in November, and it was very pleasant weather. If someone would have told me then that an arctic freeze was to descent over the city in February, I'd have been a bit credulous. But it's all out there to see now, and some folks on Twitter have been sharing their experiences of trying to keep warm. 

Rolling blackouts? In Texas? We get those in California, because, of course, the once-"Golden State" isn't so golden anymore. But Texas is a fossil fuels powerhouse, so it's gotta hurt, more than the chilling freeze.

At WSJ, "From power outages to disrupted Covid-19 vaccinations, the snow, ice and stinging cold upend life for millions":

Millions of Americans were without power Tuesday after a winter storm brought snow, ice, blackouts and record-setting low temperatures to swaths of the U.S.

Nearly 75% of the Lower 48 states of the U.S. was under snow cover, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Snow Analysis daily report, including many places rarely hit by inclement weather. A week ago, 45% of the Lower 48 was under snow.

The snow, as well as freezing rain, created travel concerns from the eastern Great Lakes to New England on Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The Mississippi Department of Transportation said there were reports of ice on roads and bridges in 74 counties in the state.

Dangerously cold wind chills from Arctic air are expected to linger over the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley through midweek, the weather service said, adding that a new winter storm was emerging in the Southern Plains and would head toward the mid-South on Wednesday. On Monday night, a tornado struck Brunswick County, N.C., killing three people, according to the county Sheriff’s Office.

With electrical grids facing strain because of the extreme weather, rolling blackouts have been instituted in a number of states. Over five million customers across the U.S. were without electricity on Tuesday morning, according to PowerOutage.US. More than 4.5 million of those outages were in Texas, the website said.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state’s electricity grid, began calling for rotating outages overnight on Sunday to avoid widespread blackouts. But the severe power shortages forced companies to curtail power beyond short rolling blackouts, with many customers losing electricity for much of the day.

Water utilities were also affected by the weather, with some cities urging residents to boil water to make it safe to drink, even though they have no power.

President Biden declared a state of emergency in Texas after receiving a request from Gov. Greg Abbott, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster-relief efforts. Mr. Abbott also sent the National Guard to conduct welfare checks and assist with emergency operations across the state...

Still more.

Megan Parry's Tuesday Forecast

At 10 News San Diego:

Stop Pretending You're Not Rich

Here's Richard V. Reeves, at the New York Times:

Opinion: "Imagine my horror at discovering that the United States is more calcified by class than Britain" https://t.co/h25WWCkqUy

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 11, 2017

And his book's out tomorrow, at Amazon, Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do about It.

Palo Alto Ranked Wealthiest City in the Country

Heh.

Palo Alto's in the heart of Silicon Valley, where the left's iconic technology companies call home, especially Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Wealthy progressives, pushing their radical leftist ideology on the rest of us while living in the lap of luxury.

At Nerdwallet, "‘Wealthiest’ Cities: How Income, Home Values and Credit Limits Stack Up Around the U.S."

Hat Tip: O.C. Register, "Five Orange County cities ranked among nation's 20 wealthiest."

Bentley's New Bentayga SUV Set to Debut at $229,000.00

Heh.

It does 0-60 in four seconds.

Watch, at WSJ, "New Bentley SUV Attracts One Percenters."

The website's here.

And at the Bentley YouTube page, "Bentley Bentayga Launch Film - The Landing."

Hamptons McMansions

Look, excess is great, if you can afford it.

At NYT, "Hamptons McMansions Herald a Return of Excess":

BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y. — Porsche ads clog the local radio here, houses are renting at close to the million-dollar range — for the summer — and Uber, an app that lets you order car service, reports that its new Hamptons luxury S.U.V. business is booming, $50 minimum fares and all.

But there is no surer sign that the big-spending ways that characterized the pre-financial crisis era have returned to the Hamptons than the blue “Farrell Building” signs multiplying across the pristine landscape here, along with the multimillion-dollar houses they advertise. It is a process some are calling “Farrellization,” and not necessarily happily.

“We’re as busy as we’ve ever been,” said Joe Farrell, the president of Farrell Building, during a recent interview and tour of his $43 million, 17,000-square-foot home here. The estate, called the Sandcastle, features two bowling lanes, a skate ramp, onyx window frames and, just for fun, an A.T.M. regularly restocked with $20,000 in $10 bills.

To spend a day with Mr. Farrell — a local version of Donald Trump, without the history of debt, the lush hair or the insults — is to see just how fully the Hamptons have rebounded, along with the confidence, and the bonuses, of their wealthier summer visitors.

With a customer base composed largely of Wall Street financiers, Mr. Farrell has more than 20 new homes under construction, or slated for construction, at a time, making him the biggest builder here by far. He has plans for more, many of them speculative homes built before they have buyers...

Must be the life.

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