Nov 232015
 

It feels like it has been a long day.  I visited with my mother and we had our little fashion show.  Her care aid this evening, Fatiha, helped me with the clothing.  Mum smiled when I held them up.  She always likes what I choose. Temperatures are heading down to the -5 to -10 C range for the rest of the week.  We may even see some snow flurries Monday night.  If it gets any colder, I'll have to put longjohns on my computer!

Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:27 (average 4:38). To do it, click here. How did you do? 

Short Takes

Daily Beast  In the week-plus since the ISIS-commissioned terrorist attacks on Paris claimed the lives of 130 people and sent the world into a state of panic, Republican politicians—and that maladjusted person from your high school you’ve lost touch with—have been stoking the fears of Americans by espousing virulent anti-refugee rhetoric. Leading GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio have said we shouldn’t allow in any Syrian refugees, while 31 governors across the country have pledged not to allow these war-torn survivors into their states—this despite the fact that they have zero authority to do so.

And Trump, who by the way is married to an immigrant from then war-torn Slovenia (see: the Ten-Day War), has even argued that all mosques in the U.S. should be surveilled, and under a Trump presidency, that all U.S. Muslims could be forced to enter themselves into a database to monitor them. If this sounds like fascism, that’s because it is.

This past week, the House of Representatives passed a bill (that will surely be vetoed by President Obama) calling for tougher screening procedures for Syrian refugees, including that the FBI director must sign off on each and every one of the 10,000 refugees Obama’s pledged to accept over the next year.

Click through for the rest.  John Oliver certainly has a way with words.

Huffington Post — "That's the danger and that somehow talking about security allows us to tap into that racist vein, when that isn't who we are," Wynne said.

Couillard said Canada is not uniquely better or worse than any other society.

"We have those two devils within our society: racism and xenophobia. They exist," said the Quebec premier.

"And it is the responsibility of political leaders – and I got into trouble a few days ago because I said that publicly – it is the responsibility of political leaders not to feed the fire in a very negative way."

The 11-week federal election campaign that resulted in a resounding Liberal majority last month included highly charged debates over the wearing of face-coverings by less than a handful of Muslim women at citizenship swearing-in ceremonies and a Conservative proposal for a "barbaric cultural practices" hotline where it was suggested neighbours might report suspect behaviour.

Click through for the rest.  The thought of the barbaric cultural practices hotline called to mind an article I had read in the NY Times about ISIS women, Khansaa Brigade, the all-female morality police of the Islamic State.  ISIS turning people against their own.  Government leaders, in this case, Harper and his harlots encouraging people to turn against others. And it reminds me of what Hitler was doing during WWII.

Think Progress — Speaking to a bipartisan group of black lawmakers and community leaders on Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said he has yet to see evidence that black men and women are being disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.

During the 2020 Club’s Presidential Justice Forum at Allen University, a historically black university in Columbia, South Carolina, Carson said that he’s not convinced that there are racial biases in policing or that law enforcement singles out African Americans.

“I’m not aware of a lot of cases where a police officer comes up to someone like you and says ‘Hey, I don’t like you. I’m going to shoot you,’” he said to moderator Jeff Johnson from Black Entertainment Television. “I’m still waiting for the evidence.”

Click through for the rest.  It has to be true . . . Carson gave himself a lobotomy!  Either that or he just doesn't give a damn.  Does the US want someone for POTUS  who isn't in touch with reality?

My Universe — 

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  9 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 23/11/2015”

  1. DB: John Oliver is spot on talking about refugees, great video.

    HP: Racism and xenophobia is alive and well, with the rampant fear mongering, as seen here in Texas. We need protection from those hateful people, rather than any incoming refugees, imo.

    TP: omg. He's lost it, I mean completely lost it. What a denier. I can think of 10 young black men that have been killed by police, off the top of my head right now. See below:

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicholasquah/heres-a-timeline-of-unarmed-black-men-killed-by-police-over#.fflqbWEq1

    My Universe: So sweet. Little, big, furry, playing, cuddling, caring, and loving, different breeds, all getting along. Why can't we?

    Glad that you had a good day with your mum. Sounds like you had a good time. Enjoy the rest of your day, Thanks, Lynn.

  2. It may have been a long day, Lynn, but I'm sure your mother's smile made it all worthwhile. Thank you for posting this article despite of your long, and cold, day.

    Daily Beast: Thanks for John Oliver, Lynn. He can say all there is to say about Syrian refugees in a short 7 minutes and he says it extremely well. It takes between one and two years before  refugee are allowed into America, during which time they're screened over and over again. It's absolutely preposterous to think that a terrorist would take that route, just as it is preposterous to want the director of the FBI to personally sign off all 10.000 refugees coming in next year. Home grown terrorists must be overjoyed with this ridiculous (aka Republican) proposal: The head of the FBI won't have time to sleep let alone have time to keep an eye on them. Idiots.

    Huffington Post: Canada is still in the early stages of recovering from a decade of Harper's right wing politics, so it's no wonder that it's no better or worse than other countries at the moment. It is however, very refreshing to see so many politicians speaking openly about it and recognizing that Canada has its racism and xenophobia too. Let's hope this new government will have dealt with that in a few years time, its certainly seem to be willing and trying to put an end to that. However if left to the Conservatives, Canada would turn the clock back even further with its "barbaric cultural practices" hotline, knowing full well that this will end in perceived practices of Muslims only. This turning of citizens against each other remind me of the Stazi in East Germany before the wall fell. This secret service spied on everyone but also pushed people into reporting on the behavior of friends, family and neighbors… In the end it had gotten terribly out of hand, everyone distrusting everyone. This is not the new Canada, not even the old Canada and Conservatives should be made to see that. 

    Think Progress: Ben Carson is the worse Uncle Token (as TomCat has named him), but even he must be aware that this is yet  another lie. Sometimes I get the feeling that everything that man says is scripted and he's just a sock puppet for some terribly racist sponsor. He made this statement and others equally inane at the Allen University, a historically black university in Columbia, South Carolina. Black members in the audience were not amused. If he had any sense at all, he would have known to expect that and any "normal" candidate would have adapted his speech to suit his audience.

    My Universe: Such gentle and adorable encounters. Lovely video to wind down with.

  3. 4:02  Nice to have pictures to remenber the climate by.

    Computers can tolerate much colder temperatures than humans (which is why computer-heavy workplaces are often airconditioned to the point that they look like a disaster area where the Red Cross has been handing out blankets.  (My office was once compared to that, so I can say I was there.)

    Daily Beast – Although there are no crocodile-filled moats, one has to ask whether it is in the best interest of refugees to resettle them in states where we already know they will face extreme negativity.  So while the governors have no legal authority, they may still have an effect.  BTW, does anyone besides me see a parallel between RWNJs asking for more screeing when we already have the toughest in the world, and RWNJs asking for a bigger defense budget when we already have the biggest in the world?  Or I giess, instead of asking for, I should say demanding.

    HuffPo – Hey, US Christians have their own Khansaa Brigade.  Its spiritual founder was Phyllis Schlafly.  But there were, and are, plenty more, an adding new ones daily.  (Kim Davis?)  It just isn't organized.  But for that very reason, it is more undercover.

    Think Progress – He doesn't realize how delusional he is.  And every white person killed by police gives him fodder for his delusions.  God forbid he should look at how many whites and how many blacks are killed by police compared to the relative sizes of the populations.  Even then, he would probably say THOSE blacks were THUGS.

    Universe – on the whole, very patient dogs.

  4. 3:37  I hit the wall.

  5. 3:07

    You beat me to Oliver, so only two Short Takes today.

  6. I don’t think Ben Carson gave himself a “lobotomy” – I think he had a Limbaughtomy!

    Glad to see all those kittens make it through alive.  A couple of times I thought they were going to become hors d’oeuvres.

  7. I have been saying that Carson gave himself a lobotomy for a while now, but this comment is so fricking unbelievable that I am begining to think he hs tken some major opiates, and/or VERY funny mushrooms ever since!

    Turning people against their own is a long honored tactic in totalitarian regimes, religious or not!

  8. Daily Kos: Oliver has a fine breakdown of what people need to do to get admitted to this country. I am trying to share it on Facebook for all my friends to see how little danger we are in from helping refugees.

    Huff Post:  I read the whole article and felt nothing but sympathy for these women.  What a horrible life they have now.

    Think Progress"  The more Ihear from Carson, the more convinced I am that he has no sense of reality.

    My Universe:  All of these were sweet, exept the first one.  I don't understand the logic of letting a fully grown dog lick what was obviously a litter of new born kittens. 

  9.  Thank You so much for a truely awesome post .

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