Politics Plus

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.

Today is busy for me.  I'll be off teaching before too long and won't be back til late afternoon.  At least it will be sunny for those out doing Christmas shopping.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:20 (average 5:30). To do it, click here. How did you do? 

Short Takes

CBC — A Muslim group in Peterborough, Ont., will kneel and pray today at a local synagogue, where they will be welcomed after their own mosque was damaged in an arson attack earlier this month that police are investigating as a hate crime.

"As Canadians we have to stick together," said Larry Gillman, president of the  Beth Israel Synagogue, in an interview on  CBC's Metro Morning today. "It's not about religion, it's not about race. Canadians do this."

Click through for the rest.  In a post Paris tragedy, the Masjid al-Salaam mosque in Peterborough, Ont was burned.  But the Beth Israel synagogue extended a hand in friendship and now, both Muslims and Jews are using the same space for worship.  Kenzu Abdella of the Masjid al-Salaam mosque said "At the end of the day, it's a house of God."  Amen!

Alternet — And he said quite clearly that he believes,

“we’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule… And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago…”

Does that add up to fascism? Yeah, pretty much. In his book, “Rush, Newspeak and Fascism” David Neiwert explained that the dictionary definition of the word often leaves out the most important characteristics of the philosophy, which are “its claims to represent the “true character” of the respective national identities among which it arises; and its mythic core of national rebirth — not to mention its corporatist component, its anti-liberalism, its glorification of violence and its contempt for weakness.” If that’s not Donald Trump I don’t know what is.

Facism is like a contagious disease . . . it keeps on infecting.  It's not new, but the current crop of Republicans and Tea Partiers sure seem into ensuring its survival.  Dump Trump.

The Nation — China Labor Watch’s (CLW) report on China’s toy industry is a seasonal reminder of how American families’ appetite for cheap toys is fed by not-so-fun factory jobs, in which workers struggle to sustain their own families on pennies an hour. The advocacy group reports:

In workshops that are hazardous to their health, millions of workers toil under cruel management, 11 hours a day, six days per week. Over the course of a year, a toy worker may only be able to see her parents and children one time.

In low-wage factories that bring Star Wars andFrozen toys to big-box shelves, field researchers reported observing up to 80-hour workweeks, widespread wage theft, and apparent violations of both corporate ethical sourcing codes and Chinese labor law—including age-discriminatory hiring, nonpayment of mandatory social insurance, and inadequate safety training. For example, at two suppliers, Winson and Jetta, employers reportedly “diverted” overtime hours to discount weekend work. As a result, CLW claims, “employing up to 11,000 workers, the two companies may be cheating workers out of $1 to 2 million a year.”

Click through fore more.  How willing are consumers willing to finance the oppression of workers in other countries?  If these were American workers, would consumers still finance the oppression?  Given what happens with Walmart employees and with the media, the conditions would be more noticeable.  But overseas, out of sight, out of mind.

My Universe — TGIF!!!  Getting ready for the weekend!