Although in one sense not a lot happened yesterday, with December looming, my calendar is quickly filling up. My Open Threads may be fewer this week (the first time since I began) as I will be attempting to do the monthly reports for October and November under the master's guidance of course. Just know I won't be far away. And now, I am off to church.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:59 (average 4:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
Foreign Policy — Donald Trump could not do more to aid the terrorists of the Islamic State were he to put on a suicide vest and detonate himself in the lobby of one of his apartment buildings. His demagoguery and hate-mongering in suggesting that we create a national database of Muslims — or promoting the sick fantasy that on 9/11 crowds of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the destruction of the Twin Towers — is precisely the kind of reaction on which the extremists were counting to compound the impact of their depravity. It stokes the fears of Americans and alienates Islamic audiences worldwide. And having the leading candidate of one of America’s two principal political parties promoting such ideas suggests that they are not his alone but representative of the view of a great cross-section of the American people.
God help us if they do. Trump’s words are the most vile and ignorant sort of pandering. They test the bounds of free speech because they are, in fact, a kind of hate speech designed to turn one portion of the populace against another. They are also profoundly un-American, ignoring the values of openness and tolerance that are fundamental foundations of our national greatness. …
Nonetheless, Trump’s actions are even more unsettling because they are symptomatic of a broader, deeper, and much more profound problem. Terrorism has, since 9/11, mushroomed into a greater global threat than it has ever been before — and it has been a problem in one form or another since the dawn of history. But as bad as terrorism is, our reactions to it have triggered a kind of worsening risk spiral that has made the world a much more dangerous place. Not only are we playing into the terrorists’ hands, and thus giving them needed momentum, the countries of the world are reacting in such an uncoordinated and even conflicting fashion that new geopolitical fissures are emerging that are far more worrisome than any strike or campaign extremists could orchestrate.
Click through for the rest of this longer piece. I think the author is correct in that the world needs to come together in unity of purpose and leadership. As the expression goes, "too many chefs and not enough cooks" are spoiling the broth. Of course, this is easier said than done. National leaders in general tend to be myopic and unilateral.
CBC — If you're going to sponsor one family of Syrian refugees, why not sponsor 50? That's the logic behind Jim Estill's decision. The Guelph, Ont. businessman, and CEO of appliance company Danby, plans to help bring 50 families to the Guelph area and he's personally footing the bill of over $1 million.
Q and A with Jim Estill
Why are you going to do this?
In short, it's the right thing to do. You see what's going on, it's a crisis and we're Canadian. We should do the right thing.
Click through for the rest of the Q and A. Here is a new Syrian refugee story from Guelph, Ontario. Some may be tired of reading these stories, but they are likely people embarrassed by the generosity of others.
Raw Story — On a day when the skies were ashen from the smoke of distant wildfires, Chase Hurley kept his eyes trained on the slower-moving disaster at ground level: collapsing levees, buckling irrigation canals, water rising up over bridges and sloshing over roads.
This is the hidden disaster of California’s drought. So much water has been pumped out of the ground that vast areas of the Central Valley are sinking, destroying millions of dollars in infrastructure in the gradual collapse.
Four years of drought – and the last two years of record-smashing heat – have put water in extremely short supply.
Such climate-charged scenarios form the backdrop to the United Nations negotiations starting in Paris on 30 November, which are seeking to agree on collective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And still there are those that continue to deny that global warming and human caused climate change exist. As water from aquifers is used up, other areas will also show the effects of climate change.
My Universe — Reminiscent of this past week's full moon.
8 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 29/11/2015”
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4:25 Jogging on sand is rather hard on the calves.
Foreign Policy – One reason national leaders tend to be myopic and unilateral is that people who are farsighted and multilateral tend to see well enough not to want such thankless jobs. Of course there are exceptions. But there need to be more. Thee is no blanket reason why anyone here at this blog couldn't run for public office (though there may be individual reasons – that's different). Party leaders are always looking for progressive candidates. Don't be sny.
CBC – This is beautiful, and is no doubt extremely shaming to Republicans (wherever they are, whatever they are called), so I expect them to be frothing at the mouth.
Raw Story – Everything that comes out of the ground damages the earth, and water is certainly no exception. That is just common sense, which most people don't have. Thirty years down the road, they will be screaming, "Why didn't the goverment tell us?!" At least, if they are still around.
Universe – Gorgeous.
It was just you and me on the puzzle and for you. You're correct though, running on sand (dry is worse I think) is tough on calves, but also quads.
As I find stories of people stepping up to help the refugees, I will be posting them. I for one find them inspiring.
FP: what is described: "But as bad as terrorism is, our reactions to it have triggered a kind of worsening risk spiral that has made the world a much more dangerous place. Not only are we playing into the terrorists’ hands, and thus giving them needed momentum, the countries of the world are reacting in such an uncoordinated and even conflicting fashion that new geopolitical fissures are emerging that are far more worrisome than any strike or campaign extremists could orchestrate," is very much akin to what happened when the W.T. Towers were hit, the ensuing collapse was, apparently, much more of a resounding success than the terrorists could have hoped for! that time, it was not our fault, this time, with the help of th Loud Hairball, and Dr. Ben, I might add, it is.
CBC: Wonderful!
Raw Story: Very sad,and sadder that some asses continue to argue with science in their greedy cravings! Perhaps we ought to have Sen. Inhofe (he who "knows" that his God would not allow global warmng to happen), the Koch bros. and the ExxonMobile executives live out on the sinking Central Valley!
I agree with you Mitch on the FP article. Lunacy and too few see that, especially in the Republican political camp.
You have been doing an excellent job, now that TC is back you can take a break.
Foreign Policy: I clicked through and think the author is right. Knee jerk reactions accomplish nothing. Our current crop of politicians are encouraging fear and xenophobia. Boko Haram killed almost as many people last week as the terrorists in France, but there was very little coverage in the news. It seems as if the world is imploding.
CBC: I wish there were many more like him!
Raw Story: Amen to this story. The climate deniers will suffer with the rest of us.
My Universe: Love this pic!
Thanks Edie! Actually, I will be scarce for this week since I am going to try to get October's and November's reports done for TC. I'll do a short OT like today's.
I wish it were the right wing nut jobs, wherever they be, that were imploding!
As I find stories of people stepping up to help the refugees, I will be posting them. I for one find them inspiring.
Good luck with the monthly reports, Lynn, looking forward to seeing them, because they will tell the tale of how TomCat's site was kept running and its followers on their toes.
Foreign Polic: Excellent piece by David Rothkopf, who has more understanding in his little pinkie of how the rest of the world in general, and Da'esh in particular, look towards America and judge it, than Donald Trump and the rest of the GOP put together. Not only do they have no inkling of how the world sees them, they have absolutely no idea of the fact that in the eyes of many other leaders America has become a clown, an untrustworthy partner and certainly not the leader of nations it used to be. And that at a time when there is a desperate need for such leadership. If Trump represents the "new American order", then other countries will look for more stable leadership elsewhere. Unfortunately the choose has never been so limited.
CBC: Stories like Jim Estill's from Guelph are very uplifting, it's so good to read and hear about people who do care for others. It seems that most of the positive stories come from Canada and somehow we have started do expect that from Canadians more than from Americans nowadays.
Raw Story: We'll know in two weeks time if the leaders of other countries got their act together and came up with a serious plan or if they let climate change deniers and corporation lobbyists take the lead because that's all so much easier (for now). I'm not holding my breath.
My Universe: beautiful picture.
FP — I agree with you. To me, this belief in American exceptionalism to the exclusion of all else, has become a lode stone around the American neck. It has hurt them and grossly affected their international relationships. Sometimes, I think that some other countries (Saudi Arabia, Israel) are playing the US like a musician plays a fiddle.
As I find stories of people stepping up to help the refugees, I will be posting them. I for one find them inspiring. With Harper gone and Trudeau in charge so to speak, I am seeing my Canada coming back to her roots, or at least the roots I know. We were known as peacekeepers and worked through the UN. Harper made us murderers and ignored the UN.