Well, it has been raining all day. Tonight, ferry sailings have been cancelled due to heavy seas, rain and wind warnings. Believe me, it takes a lot to cancel a ferry sailing. I was on a sailing years ago when cars were bouncing as much as 25 cm off the deck and then coming down with a thud. Subsequent sailings were cancelled. So here I sit with my little girl curled up at my feet, all warm and toasty and dry! For us, at least half the weekend is supposed to be like this.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:57 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
The New Yorker — These are not abstractions. And this is where the arguments about the freedom of speech become most tone deaf. The freedom to offend the powerful is not equivalent to the freedom to bully the relatively disempowered. The enlightenment principles that undergird free speech also prescribed that the natural limits of one’s liberty lie at the precise point at which it begins to impose upon the liberty of another.
Click through for the rest of the article. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two current flashpoints. But should they be flashpoints? I don't think so . . . my freedoms end at the tip of my nose, while yours end at the tip of your nose. The systemic racism and definition of rights in the US leaves me scratching my head.
Common Dreams — On September 21, Pah, a 16-year-old student at Oakland’s Street Academy, spoke out against the export of coal through the Port of Oakland to City Council members: “I’m opposed to this coal export because it will make my community in West Oakland sick. I support jobs, but not the kind of jobs that make us sick. There are clean job alternatives, like Community Choice energy, and this will be good for the health of my community. This is my generation; I want to have a healthy life.”
Click through for the rest of the article. A promising arrangement for greener and cheaper power. What's not to like? Living in British Columbia where power is controlled by a Crown Corporation and utilities are currently highly regulated, I wonder how such a system could work here, if at all.
Washington Post — Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them.
Party leaders and donors fear that nominating either man would have negative ramifications for the GOP ticket up and down the ballot, virtually ensuring a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency and increasing the odds that the Senate falls into Democratic hands.
The party establishment is paralyzed. Big money is still on the sidelines. No consensus alternative to the outsiders has emerged from the pack of governors and senators running, and there is disagreement about how to prosecute the case against them. Recent focus groups of Trump supporters in Iowa and New Hampshire commissioned by rival campaigns revealed no silver bullet.
Click through for the rest of the article. I know that I cringe at the thoughts of a President Trump or a President Carson. Neither is fit, in my mind, to be president. But then, I don't think any of the current Republican aspirants is fit.
Mother Jones — One thing every Republican presidential candidate can agree on is that they hate President Barack Obama's plan to tackle climate change. Now Hillary Clinton might have a way to remedy one of their biggest concerns.
… Today Clinton produced her own $30 billion plan, which would use a smattering of tax incentives and grant funding to support public health, education, and entrepreneurial initiatives in coal communities from Appalachia to Wyoming.
You can read the full plan here. It follows the lead of a similar but much smaller initiative Obama rolled out last month. Much of it is targeted at rebuilding infrastructure—highways, bridges, railroads, broadband networks. The Clinton campaign says that kind of development would not only create new jobs to replace those lost in the coal industry, but be vital for growing new industries.
Click through for the rest of the article. I remember coal being delivered to my home, and later to the apartment building where I lived. Unfortunately, our apartment was directly above the coal bin and coal dust was a part of life unfortunately. But that was in the 1950s and 60s. Coal has been in decline for years but politicians in coal states are mired in the coal dust of the past rather than looking forward to new opportunities. It seems that Hillary has beat them to the punch!
My Universe — Cuteness overload to usher in the weekend!
17 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 13/11/2015”
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NYer: I was brought up that if "you can't say anything nice, (person or thing)," to not say anything at all." The anonymous ditital forum, 'Yik Yak' has even touched students here in this little town, to where the district has posted on their page, their repugnance of it, as there have been alot of negative bullying comments on there about school kids. Look at the furor over the Starbucks cup. I don't have the answers, but it certainly is not the world I grew up in.
CD: Sounds like an excellent choice, imho. My daughter who lives in CA., pays more in electricity than I do. I'm home most of the time, whereas she's home for just pit stops.
WP: You should have warned me. I get gag reflex when I watch videos with Repugs in them. ugh.
MJ: Great remedy by Ms. Clinton. Most Repugs are 'stuck in the mud', and according to Cruz, climate change is a 'religion'. How's that gonna work out? lol.
How's your cough? Hope gone by now. Sounds like a good day to relax, even if it's Friday the 13th. I'm all for taking it easy. Thanks, Lynn.
Well you already know that I still have the cough and I have added to my maladies. I just got up after a 2 hour cat nap and I feel better than I did before lying down.
You should grab the popcorn and laugh like hell during vids with Repugs. It helps with the gag reflex!
My Universe: Simply adorble! Passing this on too. 😉
Aren't they though! I think it's their fat little tummies and cute little faces that deliver the cuteness overload. Puppies are cute, but kittens rule!
4:21 A little cold here for this.
New Yorker – Well, as he says, the principles underlying free speech are enlightenment principles. And fundamentalism is fundamentally incompatible with enlightenment. Perhaps capitalizing Enlihjtenment would make that more clear. Fundamentalists call the Enlightenment "secular humanism."
Common Dreams – Good luck to West Oakland. Of course, one of two things is going to happen: Either clean energy will win and these problems will vanish, or the earth will become uninhabitable for everyone. However, regardless of which it is, Pah will no longer be there.
Washington Post – Interesting that Republicans are worried about a Hillary presidency and not about a Bernie presidency.
MoJo – Alas, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that coal dust in the 50's and 60's is still afffecting your cough today. I am pretty confident that smoking in the 60's and 70's still affects mine. I also hope the cough is better.
Universe – How do kittens that young know so well how to milk the cuteness?
They're born with the cuteness mojo!
As long as you can stay in, this weather is perfect for you and your fur babes, Lynn. If you do have to go out this weekend, make it short and take half a catnap afterwards, and a whole one if your cough is still bothering you. Enjoy your weekend.
The New Yorker: Perhaps it's because we're outsiders and we've not been inundated in these discussions all our lives, but my response to it is much like yours, Lynn. Scratching my head, and after reading the article, even more confused. But I've noticed the start of debates like this here in The Netherlands to, so we might just as well get used to it.
Washington Post: Isn't it ironic that the establishment is worried about either Carson or Trump winning the primaries. To me, and quite a few more in Europe, I can tell you, they are the embodiment of the right wing establishment including their super rich sponsors: they are loudmouthed (even when whispering, yes), bigoted, egocentric, dumb, power hungry psychopaths who love only one thing and that is themselves. This is what you've been grooming all these years, Koch brothers and all you other filthy rich, and now they are copies of yourselves, you don't want them to become president. Because there's one thing for sure, unlike the remainder in the Clown's Car, they are never going to listen to you and do your bid after they get to the White House. They are going to bring America to the brink of disaster regardless of you, taking you with them in their fall.
Mother Jones: The Dutch closed their mines in the 60s, making all mine workers in one province redundant almost all at the same time. The loss of jobs in the province was horrific, but the government had sense enough to have kept enough money aside in times of economic prosperity and stimulated new jobs and economic growth in the region much like Clinton and Obama have been doing. And it worked.
My Universe: Awwwww, and wasn't TomCat cute when he was little?
Can you tell us how you really feel about Trump and Carson? LOL! Too bad the party didn't do some serious vetting before hand! Mind, that would mean there wouldn't be any candidates.
When you get back from PT, stay in!!
The Republican candidates can also agree on their hatred of Obamacare, and the need to stral Democrats' right to vote.
3:21 I got beached!
You and Joanne 😥 Me 😀
I wonder where Jerry is?
Repigs hate Obama's climate plan? Tey hate anything that will not fill their bank accounts MORE, and caring for the climate is too sophisticated a concept for them…they can not recognize that it might do them some good, too, in the future, as all they can vizualize is the tips of their noses.
New Yorker- Excellent points.
Wash. Post: It is delighful to see the GOPigs hoisted on their very own petard, virtually pulling their hair out…oh, man, is that where the hell the Donald gets that crap?
Isn't it though! Left to their own devices, they hang themselves.
Glad you are cozy and warm.
The New Yorker: Freedom of speech and Freedom of religion are both being used to justify all sorts of racism, anti=feminism, anti gays, and a myriad of other right wing hates. The terrorism in Paris tonight is yet another deplorable example of what can happen when people will go to any lengths to promote their agendas.
Common Dreams: Community Choice seems like the way to go. If we could afford it, we would have solar now. Someone we know made the investment and they are selling electricity back to the power company.
Mother JOnes: I live in coal country, and this area is suffering unemployment and poverty on a huge scale. Our government has catered to coal for years and made no effort to diversify the economy in this part of the state. Instead of admitting that coal is on its way out, they blame OBama's EPA. I have no answers for this problem. Wish I did.
Mother Jones: " What if Hillary hits a banana peel on one of these become President?" That phrase alone should send shivers down all our spines. I was hoping that Trump or Carson would be the Rep. nominee, until I saw this. What if? Shudder the thought.
My Universe: Loved this. For the first time in five years, no pregnant stray cat found my home. I miss having a kitten, but am relieved that I am not trying to find homes for them.
Thanks, Lynn, for your hard work.
Thanks Edie!
Thanks everyone! have to move on.