I have had a very relaxing, nay, lazy day today. It is supposed to snow tonight but we'll see. Snow and Vancouver drivers don't generally mix well. Some of us have a lot of experience driving in snow (like me), while others don't change their wild driving habits for anything! I have church in the morning and then I may try to go see the new Star Wars movie. Just to let you know that since TC has taken back the puzzle, I will probably scale back my postings in January sometime.
Puzzle — You,ve been finding the puzzle here for over 3 months, but starting today, TC has taken back the puzzle. Maybe I should try something like Suduko if I can find one on the web that is embedable so we're all doing the same one.
Short Takes
Alternet — … the question to ask is whether this film can spark a political revolution just in time for the 2016 election. …
“Where to Invade Next” begins with the observation that the United States has not won a war since World War II. It then comically imagines the Department of Defense calling on Moore to step in and save our nation. His plan? Invade nations not to take them over, but to take their good ideas. We then see a hilariously ironic shot of Moore on a ship draped in the American flag and heading out on his quest.
Moore then embarks on a tour of a series of European nations and one in Africa where he finds society getting it right. From debt-free education to paid leave, women’s rights, prison reform and delicious school lunches, Moore offers viewers a world where people simply live better than we do here.
This is a short trailer for the movie.
Michael Moore is interviewed by Stephen Colbert.
I have not seen the movie and probably won't for some time even though it debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015. I can't find any distribution information for Canada but it is rolling out in the US in the lead up to the New Hampshire primaries. All of us need to think of our national issues in new creative ways. BTW, MM weighs in about "where he got his international outlook growing up in northern Michigan (“I blame Canada”)". Now I, as a Canadian, can accept that notariety! Michael Moore in “Where to Invade Next” : "The American dream seems to be alive and well everywhere except America."
Mother Jones — At least 96 children died at Dozier between 1914 and 1973, according to school records, and while state officials say there’s no proof, former students insist that some of the deaths were the result of foul play. Boys of all races were routinely, brutally, and even fatally beaten by staff, they allege; some were raped, and “runners” were fired upon—at least seven kids were reported dead after trying to escape.
Tens of thousands of boys passed through Dozier’s gates between its founding in 1900 and 2011, when Florida officials shut it down (citing budgetary reasons) amid a Justice Department investigation that found ongoing “systemic, egregious, and dangerous practices” at the school.
I stumbled upon this 2014 article and found the level of violence unimaginable, yet evidence as noted in a Tampa Bay Times follow up article bears witness to the stories of former residents. Was this a stop on the school to prison pipeline?
CBC — Siham Abu Sitta, a social worker, and her two daughters fled Syria for Lebanon in February 2013 after her husband was killed by a sniper.
She is Palestinian, but grew up in Syria in Yarmouk, a permanent Palestinian refugee camp close to Damascus that has been the scene of vicious fighting between anti-government rebels, Syrian forces and, more recently, ISIS.
A long siege of Yarmouk has led to several hundred deaths from starvation.
While a refugee in Lebanon, Siham met a Canadian-Lebanese filmmaker Carol Mansour who made a short film about her and four other refugee women as they struggled to get by.
The film, Not Who We Are, won two international awards and, earlier this year, caught the attention of Fairlawn Avenue United Church in Toronto, whose congregation reached out to sponsor Siham and her daughters.
With the prospect of moving to Canada, Siham and her twin girls, Joudy and Jana, have been working hard to become fluent in English.
This picture taken on Jan. 31, 2014, and released by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus. (UNRWA via AP, File)
Click through to read Siham's story about her husband's death and her life in Lebanon with her very young twin daughters. So why are refugees like Sirham still rejected by the US? Sirham and her daughters have now arrived in Canada.
My Universe — Cats can be sooooooooo melodramatic!
7 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 26/12/2015”
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I like sudoku, but my favorite is kakuro. Have you tried it?
When I used to drive, I would not drive in snow here in Portland for that reason. However, in Colorado, I used to drive hign mountain passes diring blizzardss.
Suduko? You'll have to teach me how.
I probably won't get to see it fore years. 🙁
It was a state (Republican) run reform school.
Commiserations with aznd kudos to Siham.
We're mellow,and dramaztivc at different times.
Michael Moore is a national treasure!
Siham and her two girls going to Canada…Oh Canada!
Dozier and Florida Republikans, happy together!
I hope for your sake it didn't snow, Lynn. It doesn't help much if you're a good and careful "snow-driver" if others are not and are still half intoxicated from the holidays.
A Sudoku would be very nice, although I've never done one with the timer on.
Alternet: Darn, I would've loved to see the video with Colbert interviewing Moore… Sounds like a movie I'd gladly pay for to see. Sigh…I'll have to wait until it makes it to Europe, and that'll take some time.
MoJo: I remember the closing down of the school and the excavation of its "graveyard" making headlines all the way in Europe. Not that we didn't have so called reform schools with terrible records, we had them and those run by the Catholic Church were the vilest, but they had all been closed in the late 50s and early 60s. It's unimaginable that schools like that, with such an obvious bias towards African-American boys, were still running fifty years later, much in the same fashion as before. Just to think how boys as young as 6 years old died there, makes you want to weep. The sad thing is that it doesn't sound like those boys will ever see justice served in their name. Even the closing of the school is still on record as due to budgetary problems.
CBC: Siham and her twins are fortunate to have come on the radar of the Fairlawn Avenue United Church in Toronto whose members made it possible for them to come to Canada. But hundred thousands of other Palestinian refugees, some of whom have been exiled from Israel since the sixties are still in those terrible camps which have been under siege for years now. Unlike Syrian refugees, these Palestinian "double" refugees that have fled Yarmouk, are often turned away from other camps because they have no papers to prove their citizenship. These are a people that are really stuck between a rock and hard place with nowhere to turn.
My Universe: Melodramatic or not, who could resist a face like that?
LS: Driving is dangerous with snow, ice, black ice on the roads. Driving habits call for a change in them to safely negotiate the roads. Star Wars – Will try to see it in 3D soon. I remember when the first one came out. The line was long! Pot smoke hung in the air inside the theater. When the Falcon went into hyper-space, it blew the audience away with loud gasps. Yep, I remember. lol.
AlterNet: This new film by Michael Moore should open up discussions by people of all backgrounds. I'm looking forward in seeing this film at the local fully restored Sebastiani Theater in town. From the preview and on the Colbert Show, it showed a variety of ideas that should be imported to this country. Importation of ideas equals "This is what we need to do" in USA is in reference to good ideas from other countries.
Since this will most likely be a talking film, I'll have to wait for the DVD with CC to fully understand the film. I do so enjoy the BIG screen. lol.
As we all know, Michael Moore is hated and despised by the GOP and its ilk for his films. As long as the GOP continues to control Congress, there will not be any importations of ideas into USA. VOTE and get the GOP OUT!
MoJo: If this is the same school I read about not too long ago, this school did not close down because of budgetary problems, it closed down because of the high number of "deaths" which occurred during its history. The people who ran this school were staffed with psychopaths, abusers of the worst kind. It may have a record of 96 children died but the count may be much higher than what the official records show. Glad it was shut down.
CBC: Lucky for Siham Abu Sitta and her two daughters being sponsored for citizenship in Canada by Fairlawn Avenue United Church in Toronto. But, what about all the other people caught up in being a refugee of no country as are the Palestinians and others. The photo of them lining up in the crowded streets to receive food supplies is unimaginable but there it is. And what about refugees from other countries…
Universe: Silly overly dramatic kitties. lol.
In Colorado now, driving mountain passes in snow is a piece of cake compared to driving I-25 in snow through Denver or Colorado Springs, for the same reason as Vancouver – they don't change their wild driving habits for anything!
To quote The Great Cat, hurrying! Hugs!
Saw the interview. cannot wait to see it. LOVED "SICKO" what an indictment re. American "Health Care"!! Even Cuba does better.
Allthe best Lynne.
One more thought.re. Rubio,s story regarding his father. (working himselve to the bone to raise his family etc.! so that they would benefit from his hard work (as a refugee from Cuba.)
Too bad that his son Marco does not inherit his father,s work ethic.!!He has the worst attendance record of any in either house.! and as a member of the commitee for defense etc. he does NOT bother to attend. (too involved with his fiscal problems I guess..What a lazy hypocrite..
( but the turkeys applaud wildly!.) Facts ,it appears .are meaningless.!. All the best for 2016. Should be VERY interesting.