Politics Plus

The specter of a few snowflurries still hangs in the air tonight (Tuesday), but the weatherperson has promised some sunshine for tomorrow before it starts to rain again.  Today it rained hard and I got soaked again just walking from car to lab and back.  After that, I spent most of the day in bed resting until I remembered that I had not finished this post.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:06 (average 5:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Fantasy Football

Just 3 more weeks of Fantasy Football left for the 2015 season.  The playoffs are here.  I've often wondered how the match ups are determined, or perhaps why they are done as they are.  For example, #1 Monster Mashers is paired with #8 TomCat Teabag Trashers, and #2 BALCO Bombers is paired with #7 Purple Demon.  Enquiring minds want to know!

I think I am about to have my Size 9's stomped by a Lefty Hillbilly!  Have fun everyone! 

Short Takes

Huffington Post — A U.S. presidential candidate has called for troops to be positioned along the Canadian border, as the American election becomes consumed by national-security fears.

Republican Ben Carson says he wants soldiers and national guard stationed along the Mexican border — and at certain unspecified spots along the Canadian border.

It's one of his Seven Steps to a Safer America, released Tuesday. 

So much for the longest undefended border!  That said, there are armed border patrols at various points.  Paranoia certainly runs deep in the US, and as the author noted "…one security expert who cited the growing number of hijabs he saw in Canada."  Between Trump and Carson, I don't know who is the bigger fruitcake.

Think Progress — The United States Army is temporarily allowing a Sikh soldier to grow a beard and wear a turban while serving, a dramatic shift that could usher in a new era of religious accommodation for Sikhs serving in the U.S. military.

Last Wednesday, the Army announced in a letter it would grant a religious exception to Simratpal Singh, a decorated Afghanistan veteran and graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, temporarily allowing him to grow a beard and wrap his hair in a turban. Singh, a Sikh soldier who had been previously forced to shave his hair and beard, will be able to grow and publicly display both during the month-long trial period.

To me, this is a step forward in a country that has many people unwilling to accept such accommodations.  This is partly what feedom of religion looks like.

Alternet — Reacting to news that a New York judge — who is a practicing Muslim — took her oath of office using the Koran, commenters flooded a Facebook announcement, calling it an “abomination” and saying she should be arrested.

Following her election last month, Carolyn Walker-Diallo was sworn in as a civil judge for the 7th Municipal District in a Brooklyn Borough hall last Thursday. She chose to take her oath using a Koran instead of a Bible.

My first reaction to this was "this is how it should be".  Given that Walker-Diallo is a practising Muslim, an oath on a Bible would be meaningless.  While she swore to support the Constitution, perhaps all judges should swear their oaths on the Constitution rather than a religious book.  After all, Article VI, paragraph 3 of the Constitution states:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

My Universe —

Thank goodness that is not me with one of my cats!  My smallest is 10 kg (22 lbs).

I was hoping to pamper myself tomorrow with a hair cut but my stylist had to change the appointment so I'll have to look and feel like Shaggy for several days yet.  So instead, I'll get poked for my quarterly blood tests.  I hope Draculette finds a vein that does not roll all over the place.  Then home to rest as I have come down with something.  After teaching today, I was really done in and came home for a cat nap, a too long cat nap which is why I am up now . . . but not for long.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:59 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

CBC — The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will make public on Tuesday its final report documenting the history and legacy of Canada's residential school system, raising serious concerns for current and future generations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children.

The final report, titled Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, is the culmination of thousands of hours of heart-wrenching testimony heard in more than 300 communities over a span of six years, from more than 6,000 indigenous women and men who were abused and lived to tell their stories.  …

A 1945 investigation in parental complaints at the Gordon's Reserve school in Saskatchewan reported that for one dinner children were fed a single slice of bologna, potatoes, bread and milk. (General Synod Archives/Anglican Church of Canada)

"Removed from their families and home communities," Sinclair said in the final report, "seven generations of aboriginal children were denied their identity through a systematic and concerted effort to extinguish their culture, language and spirit."

"It is clear that residential schools were a key component of a Canadian government policy of cultural genocide."

I doubt that any nation which has embraced colonialism has dealt with their indigenous "conquests" in an equitable and just manner.  Certainly Canada has not, even up to including the Harper government.  The Harper government had to be dragged by the hair, and even then, grossly failed First Nations peoples on even basic matters of daily life. The Trudeau government is too new yet at only 6 weeks old to be evaluated.  However, the Trudeau government has made promises and has begun some work in consultation with the Peoples.  One thing is for sure in my mind, it is not just the government's job but the responsibility of all Canadians to embrace First Nations, Inuit and Métis with justice.

Maclean's — The contrast could not be greater. As Justin Trudeau announces that the first Syrian refugees will arrive in Canada on Thursday and Saturday, Donald Trump has doubled down on his promise to shut the door to all Muslims coming to the U.S.

Trump’s remarks have been condemned around the world as bigoted, racist and inflammatory—and yet he remains the frontrunner to be the Republican presidential nominee.

There is an 18 minute interview with David Frum, senior editor of The Atlantic and George W Bush's former speech writer, who refers to Trump as a flim-flam man.  Sounds about right to me.  Frum is a neo conservative.

Salon — Veteran journalist Ted Koppel appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday to excoriate the networks and pollsters for giving Donald Trump “the oxygen that [his] campaign requires,” which is dangerous because the real estate magnate is currently acting as “the Recruiter-in-Chief for ISIS.”

The ultimate measure of the success of television news programming, and all other programming for that matter, is the size of the audience.  How does a network potentially increase audience size? . . . by playing to the most outrageous aspects of a story.  Trump is playing the media and it is accommodating him.  Check the video.  Many of us have said that Trump, being his bombastic self, is helping Daesh, more than anything else.

My Universe — 

A busy day with church activities that taxed my bad knee in particular.  It was ice pack time when I arrived home, which turned into ice pack and cat nap time.  Tomorrow is teaching and physio.  I hope you are all getting as ready as possible for all the holiday activities, but are remembering to take some time for yourself.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:26 (average 7:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

Washington Post — "What he wanted to do was get the state of Virginia out of the business of deciding which was the best religion, and who had to pay taxes to support it," said Spellberg, a professor of history and Islamic studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

During the bill's debate, some legislators wanted to insert the term "Jesus Christ," which was rejected. Writing in 1821, Jefferson reflected that "singular proposition proved that [the bill’s] protection of opinion was meant to be universal."

He continued:

Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word "Jesus Christ," so that it should read, "a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan [Muslim], the Hindoo [Hindu], and Infidel of every denomination."

An interesting article that I encourage everyone to read.  There are plenty enough people today who state that the US was founded by Christians and should have biblical law as the basis for its laws.  I know, having studied history, that the Founding Fathers would not have sanctioned this but would support the separation of church and state.  They came out of Britain where there was great strife between Roman Catholics and Protestants in the 1500's.  To read Jefferson's words provides additional evidence of this.

Alternet —  As the Donald Trump campaign turns from farce to tribulation, it’s worth noting that millions more Americans support Bernie Sanders than the Republican frontrunner.

Trump’s level of national support is 30.4 percent of GOP primary voters, according to the average calculated by Real Clear Politics, while Sanders remains in second place among Democratic primary voters with a 30.8 percent average level of support.

Ah, truth in numbers?  Let's hope that Bernie and the Democrats prevail.  To be sure though, it is vitally important to get out the vote!

Politico — They must find a way home to the countries they have chosen to adopt, and which are still willing to adopt them. For Muslims to be at home in France or in America means that they have to develop and evolve through constant reinterpretation of the sacred texts, and their historic experiences. Above all, we must see ceaseless efforts to synthesize the core values of their religion with the very ethos of the countries in which they live. Otherwise the war will go on forever.

An interesting article I thought.  This last part had me thinking about my own Christian beliefs.  The plethora of Christian sects each has an interpretation(s) of key tenets.  Roman Catholics differ from Protestants, Baptists from Methodists, Roman Catholics from Eastern Orthodox, etc. on some tenets.  And undeniably there has been blood shed in the name of religious differences.  But I hope that all religions will not be so "stuck" on their own dogma that they remain in the past and fail to grow with the people that believe.
 

My Universe —

It has been a busy day.  The weather has been foul with wind and rain warnings.  Ferries on the coast were cancelled late afternoon and evening because of the wind.  Our trip to Costco was hampered by all the rain and I was soaked through.  I was warmer without my jacket so off it stayed, although I did garner a few questioning stares . . . you know the kind . . . "are you nuts?".  I was tired enough that once I arrived home about 6 pm, a cat nap was in order.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 4:28 (average 12:14). To do it, click here. How did you do?   With an average time so high, it would seem that many people have had trouble finding the key to this door!

Short Takes

CNN — Donald Trump's tweet on Tuesday dangling the idea of an independent run for president sent a clear warning to the Republican establishment: Attack at your own peril.

After 24 hours of withering criticism from the likes of Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and virtually every fellow GOP presidential hopeful — not to mention Democrats and the mayors of Philadelphia and London — Trump is defiantly standing by his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. And he upped the ante by tweeting a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll that shows 68% of the 2016 Republican front-runner's supporters would ditch the GOP and stick with him if he launched an independent campaign for the presidency.  …

"You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday.

The feelings expressed about Trump from various sources seem to boil down to Lindsey Graham's words: "Tell Donald Trump to go to hell".  But will the Republican Party be able to do it?

Time — Europe’s most powerful leader is a refugee from a time and place where her power would have been unimaginable. The German Democratic Republic, where Angela Merkel grew up, was neither democratic nor a republic; it was an Orwellian horror show, where the Iron Curtain found literal expression in the form of the Berlin Wall. The shy daughter of a Lutheran minister, Merkel slipped into politics as a divorced Protestant in a largely Catholic party, a woman in a frat house, an Ossi in the newly unified Germany of the 1990s where easterners were still aliens. No other major Western leader grew up in a stockade, which gave Merkel a rare perspective on the lure of freedom and the risks people will take to taste it.

Donald Trump, also in the running, tweeted this upon learning Angela Merkel had been chosen: "I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite. They picked person who is ruining Germany."  Congratulations to Angela Merkel for being Time's Person of the Year and at the same time, pissing off the narcissistic, bloviating Trump.  I don't agree with everything Merkel does, but she has left an indelible mark on the world stage.

National Journal —  Su­preme Court Justice Ant­on­in Scalia’s seem­ing sug­ges­tion this week that stu­dents of col­or would be bet­ter off at “a slower-track school where they do well” is not only of­fens­ive, it’s wrong. 

Black and Latino stu­dents who at­tend se­lect­ive schools are more likely to gradu­ate than those who at­tend open-en­roll­ment schools, re­gard­less of how aca­dem­ic­ally pre­pared they are when they enter. 

Ac­cord­ing to the Geor­getown Uni­versity Cen­ter on Edu­ca­tion and the Work­force, gradu­ation rates for black and Latino stu­dents double when they move to se­lect­ive schools from open-ac­cess col­leges. 

“Justice Scalia is mak­ing the tired ar­gu­ment that ad­mit­ting Afric­an-Amer­ic­an stu­dents in­to white schools is akin to put­ting ponies in a horse race,”

Further evidence, as if any more were really needed, that Injustice Scalia should be put out to pasture.

My Universe —