Politics Plus

TGIF!!!!!  Mind, when you're retired, it doesn't make a big difference.  Well I had a wonderfully long sleep last night which was great.  As you may have seen, TC's 10 year old laptop committed suicide so he will be scarce for awhile. But rest assured, we will continue to keep you abreast of his activities, including wheelies in the halls and nurse chasing.  I am off shortly to teach but will return late this afternoon. 

Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:53 (average 5:32). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.

Short Takes

Alternet — Rubio replied he would like to have a beer with football legend Dan Marino, Russian chess prodigy Gary Kasparov and Malala Yousafzai.

Click through for the rest of this short piece.  Does this remind you of anyone from the Republican 2012 Presidential race . . . maybe Herman Cain?  To wit, I offer evidence of Cain's stupidity which looks a lot like Rubio's.  Hang your head in shame Marco!

Mother Jones — Elizabeth Warren wants to give seniors the same pay raise enjoyed by CEOs—and to raise taxes on some executive pay in the process. The liberal senator from Massachusetts is introducing a bill on Thursday to boost Social Security payments for 2016 with a one-time bump in benefits.

Click through for the rest of the article.  If CEOs can get a raise of average 3.9%, then surely SS recipients should be entitled to an increase.  Let's see, SS recipients are faced with price and cost increases daily but they haven't had an increase so they aren't even keeping up.  But CEOs don't have to spend all their money on the necessities of life as do  SS recipients, yet they get a 3.9% average increase.  There is a big disconnect here.  Go Lizzie!!!

From the files of "You've Got to be Kidding!" — Continuing the Republican party’s rich history of condescending to black voters and assuming rap is the only language African-Americans speak or understand, Ben Carson unveiled a new hip-hop radio ad today. And it is just as unhip, patronizing and irrelevant as you might expect! Check chickity-check it out for yourself, hippity-hoppin’ homies!

Check out rappin' Ben Carson at Alternet.  All I can say Ben is don't give up your day job, whatever it is, because with disingenuous garbage like this, you are going nowhere!

Mother Jones — The exclusion of black people from juries is a hot topic this week, as the United States Supreme Court considers the case of Timothy Foster, a black man charged with murdering an elderly white woman in Georgia some three decades ago. In 1987, Foster was convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury, after prosecution lawyers used their so-called peremptory strikes to disqualify all the blacks in the jury pool, citing "race-neutral" reasons.

Up until this point in the case, the courts had accepted those alternative rationales. But the prosecutors' notes from jury selection, which were finally revealed thanks to a Public Records Act request, suggest a deliberate exclusion strategy. On the list of prospective jurors, the black names were circled, highlighted in green, and marked with a "B." They were also ranked, as an investigator for the prosecution noted in an affidavit, in case "it comes down to having to pick one of the black jurors." Ouch. 

Whatever happened to the right to be judged by a jury of the defendants peers?  Click through for the rest of the article.

My Universe — 

I cracked up when I saw this picture because this is like one of my exercises at physio.  Keep the cats away!

Today was rather cloudy, but DRY!  Last night there was snow on the North Shore mountains where many of the ski hills are located.  It has been cool but pleasant.  And best of all, no fireworks!  There are some stores already in full Christmas mode, and even some houses with Christmas lights.  Just a tad early, don't you think?  TC has had his surgery and is safely back.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:08 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.

Fantasy Football — I almost forgot to post this!  Look at those Lefty Hillbillies rocket through the standings!

* Rank change shown is from week 7 – 8

Short Takes

CBC — Inside the unofficial think-tank of the U.S. Democratic party, the Liberals' winning election playbook is being analyzed and its lessons shared with left-leaning parties around the world.

One observer says prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau's decision to embrace deficits on the campaign trail could play well for some European parties. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Matt Browne has prepared a briefing paper on the Liberal win for allies in different countries where he's heard curiosity or seen applicable lessons — including the U.K., Denmark, Holland, France, Italy and Germany.

"It's been a pretty amazing week or so," Browne said in an interview. "Amongst the progressive community in particular, people have been trying to figure out what the lessons of this are."

He works on international partnerships at the Center for American Progress, founded and run by high-ranking figures in Democratic politics. Some of its senior members had met Trudeau and his team in opposition and they offered congratulations on the Liberal election victory.

Click through for the rest of this interesting article.  Sometimes it only takes one to dip his toe, and others will start to notice and maybe follow. We know that austerity has not worked, nor has US trickle-down economics worked.  But responsible investment in infrustructure, in the country and the people will work.

The New Yorker — According to a format negotiated between the Republican National Committee and the television networks, future Presidential debates during the 2016 campaign will strictly forbid questions about things the candidates “said” or “did,” the R.N.C. confirmed on Monday.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the R.N.C., said that the deal addressed the candidates’ concerns about the previously broadcast debates, which he called “abusively fact-based.”

“In some cases, moderators were asking candidates questions about statements they made two or three weeks earlier,” Priebus said. “This new format will eliminate that kind of ancient history.”

Priebus said that the new format would satisfy not only the candidates but also Republican voters, many of whom have complained about moderators’ ”out-of-control obsession with verifiable information.”

“This is a Presidential debate,” Priebus said. “If people want facts, they can watch ‘Jeopardy.’ ”

Click through for the rest of the article.  Damn, Andy is straight reporting again!

Alternet — What the candidates are really protesting here isn’t the length or format of the debate. What they want is for the debate to resemble the echo chamber of Fox News and talk radio. They complain about the pressure to engage and confront one another, but isn’t that what debates are for? Ted Cruz wants sycophants to ask loaded questions that allow candidates to deliver rehearsed soliloquies, but that’s what stump speeches are for – debates are about forced collisions.

It’s revealing that amidst all the calls for protest and cancellations, the candidates agreed not to implement debate changes until after the upcoming Fox Business Network debate. According to the Washington Post, everyone in that room is “afraid to make Roger [Ailes] mad.” And they should be. Fox News is the fount of propaganda for the conservative movement. Fox is where candidates go to be fellated by know-nothing anchors who ask inane but friendly questions of GOP candidates.

Talk about the tail wagging the dog!  Click through for the remainder of the dog wagging.  The Republican Party is so fractured and so lame as evidenced by the conduct of the presidential candidates, I question whether the party can survive.

CBC — The decision by TransCanada was likely made for strategic reasons, said Michal Moore, an expert on the oil and gas industry with the University of Calgary School of Public Policy.

Since no progress was being made, the company likely wanted to wait until Obama leaves office, in January 2017.

"With this pause in place, they literally can re-create the project or reimagine it and certainly revisit it in the presence of a new president," Moore said. "They've at least got some negotiating room later on, no matter who's elected president."

Keystone XL is an $8-billion project that would carry U.S. and Canadian oil to American refineries.

A new federal government was recently elected in Canada, oil is below $45 a barrel, and a U.S. presidential election is a year away. All of that seems to lead to the logical conclusion that the company wants to wait for more favourable climate, both economically and politically, said David Gantz, who teaches international trade law at the University of Arizona.

Click through for the remainder of the article.  As I started reading, I felt this request was likely a strategic move on the part of Trans Canada.  Mr Trudeau has stated that he is not in favour of the Embridge pipelines, nor tanker traffic on the coasts.  But he has not come out definitively against the Keystone XL.  With Hillary Clinton coming out against the Keystone XL, it could be that Trans Canada is waiting in hopes of a Republican in the White House. (God forbid!)

My Universe — 

This is how the world should be . . . how I want it to be!

I was sitting here trying to concentrate but the neighbours were setting off fireworks starting at 8 pm. Over 2 hours of louds cracks. Unfortunately, I have mountains and highrises around me so the noise ricochets and grows louder before finally dying off.  My furbabes were relatively calm as long as I was there with them.  What a great excuse for a nap with the baby curled up under the blanket and solidly at my waist.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 4:44 (average 7:06). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.

Short Takes

Mother Jones — In his new book, Anything for a Vote, Joseph Cummins looks back at more than two centuries of campaign sleaze and scandal, from twisted words and unfounded rumors to blackmail and burglary. While this grimy lens can be a hilarious way to look at the history of presidential politics, it's often a sobering one as well—colored by policies of discrimination and assaults on voting rights that are still relevant today. It's enough to make Donald Trump's Twitter-bullying look pretty tame.

OK, I thought you might enjoy this little activity, afterall, it is the day after Hallowe'en and some might be recovering from partying.  I am not promoting the book, just having a bit of fun.  How did you do?

Huffington Post — Most of us imagine that we will grow old with the ones we love, surrounded by family members and friends until our final days. But the reality is, 35 per cent of senior women and 17 per cent of senior men live alone.

It is these people who are sometimes forgotten and left to fend for themselves.

Click through and watch the 10 minute video about Mary, age 98 years.

Some of you will know that my mother is 87 years old and lives in a specialised care centre for people with dementia.  I visit her regularly, but I also spend time with many of the other residents, some of whom do not have visitors or family.  I keep music going; we dance and sing; and we laugh!  Now you might be wondering why I included this on a political blog. With an aging population, many in my generation, the baby boomers, have already headed officially into our senior years.  True, we may be more active for more years than previous generations, but we are still slowing down, or as I like to say, maturing like a very fine wine.  So think of some of the things going on in many Republican dominated states.

As noted in Richard Zombeck's article GOP Begins Assault on Elderly, Poor, Disabled, Math, and Reason, Elizabeth Warren says "House Republicans should stop playing political games to put America's most vulnerable at risk.", and the most vulnerable include disabled citizens and senior citizens.  Richard Eskow, in his article The GOP’s Anti-Elderly, Pro-Billionaire Agenda​, talks about various Republican policies such as the cuts to Medicare and social security.  "There’s a through-line between the GOP’s embrace of Social Security cuts and its attempts to cut and privatize Medicare. In both cases, benefit reductions are being offered to distract voters from a simpler and fairer approach. And in both cases, private interests would profit: Wall Street would have more retirement income to manage (for a costly fee), and health insurers would receive a flood of new customers." 

It is so important to protect programmes for the most vulnerable in society. The only way to do that is to vote out Republicans.

Mother Jones — At first glance, there are just two groups of presidential contenders when it comes to climate change: those who think it's real and urgent, and those who don't. But take a closer look, and the picture blurs. The matrix above depicts subtle differences, at least in the Republican field, in the extent to which the candidates believe the science and want to act on it. Of course, selecting each set of coordinates wasn't an exact science—many of the White House hopefuls have a history of confused and contradictory statements on the issue. But here's a short analysis of the candidates' positions on global warming and an explanation of how we came up with this graph.

It is interesting to note that Ted Cruz is more than "stuck in the mud" having told Glenn Beck recently that climate change is really a religion.  He should be moved to the far left lower corner.

My Universe — OK, cuteness is big in my universe, even with puppies!