I’ll begin with the “Holiday” because it’ll be mine for a while.
I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome that the neurologist, who did the EMG, said is rated as “Severe” by the test. So I saw the hand surgeon today and will be having surgery in the next 1-3 weeks.
Both the surgeon and neurologist said it’d be best to minimize my keyboard excursions – so I’m going to try to be a good patient and comply.
That explains the very brief “Friday Fun” post which you’ll have to do most of the leg finger-work to read about and my probably absense.
But we can all say a hearty “ThankYou!” to Johari Osayi Idusuyi for providing some comic relief to a master comic himself, Donald Trump.
Idusuyi has made an effort to learn about the candidates, so when Trump came to down …
“I’m genuinely not interested in him as a person, but if you have the chance to see a presidential candidate, why not?” Idusuyi said.
AND she got a primo seat …
“I think we were chosen for obvious reasons. We are minorities and there weren’t a lot of minorities there. He also instructed us to sit in the middle, so we kind of already knew what this was.”
Idusuyi insisted she went into the rally with an open mind, but she took out her book and began reading after Trump demanded the removal of some protesters, and she said supporters cheered after a supporter removed a woman’s Obama hat and tossed it into the crowd.
Well, it has been raining all day. Tonight, ferry sailings have been cancelled due to heavy seas, rain and wind warnings. Believe me, it takes a lot to cancel a ferry sailing. I was on a sailing years ago when cars were bouncing as much as 25 cm off the deck and then coming down with a thud. Subsequent sailings were cancelled. So here I sit with my little girl curled up at my feet, all warm and toasty and dry! For us, at least half the weekend is supposed to be like this.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:57 (average 4:46). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
The New Yorker— These are not abstractions. And this is where the arguments about the freedom of speech become most tone deaf. The freedom to offend the powerful is not equivalent to the freedom to bully the relatively disempowered. The enlightenment principles that undergird free speech also prescribed that the natural limits of one’s liberty lie at the precise point at which it begins to impose upon the liberty of another.
Click through for the rest of the article. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two current flashpoints. But should they be flashpoints? I don't think so . . . my freedoms end at the tip of my nose, while yours end at the tip of your nose. The systemic racism and definition of rights in the US leaves me scratching my head.
Common Dreams — On September 21, Pah, a 16-year-old student at Oakland’s Street Academy, spoke out against the export of coal through the Port of Oakland to City Council members: “I’m opposed to this coal export because it will make my community in West Oakland sick. I support jobs, but not the kind of jobs that make us sick. There are clean job alternatives, like Community Choice energy, and this will be good for the health of my community. This is my generation; I want to have a healthy life.”
Click through for the rest of the article. A promising arrangement for greener and cheaper power. What's not to like? Living in British Columbia where power is controlled by a Crown Corporation and utilities are currently highly regulated, I wonder how such a system could work here, if at all.
Washington Post — Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them.
Party leaders and donors fear that nominating either man would have negative ramifications for the GOP ticket up and down the ballot, virtually ensuring a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency and increasing the odds that the Senate falls into Democratic hands.
The party establishment is paralyzed. Big money is still on the sidelines. No consensus alternative to the outsiders has emerged from the pack of governors and senators running, and there is disagreement about how to prosecute the case against them. Recent focus groups of Trump supporters in Iowa and New Hampshire commissioned by rival campaigns revealed no silver bullet.
Click through for the rest of the article. I know that I cringe at the thoughts of a President Trump or a President Carson. Neither is fit, in my mind, to be president. But then, I don't think any of the current Republican aspirants is fit.
Mother Jones — One thing every Republican presidential candidate can agree on is that they hate President Barack Obama's plan to tackle climate change. Now Hillary Clinton might have a way to remedy one of their biggest concerns.
… Today Clinton produced her own $30 billion plan, which would use a smattering of tax incentives and grant funding to support public health, education, and entrepreneurial initiatives in coal communities from Appalachia to Wyoming.
You can read the full plan here. It follows the lead of a similar but much smaller initiative Obama rolled out last month. Much of it is targeted at rebuilding infrastructure—highways, bridges, railroads, broadband networks. The Clinton campaign says that kind of development would not only create new jobs to replace those lost in the coal industry, but be vital for growing new industries.
Click through for the rest of the article. I remember coal being delivered to my home, and later to the apartment building where I lived. Unfortunately, our apartment was directly above the coal bin and coal dust was a part of life unfortunately. But that was in the 1950s and 60s. Coal has been in decline for years but politicians in coal states are mired in the coal dust of the past rather than looking forward to new opportunities. It seems that Hillary has beat them to the punch!
My Universe— Cuteness overload to usher in the weekend!
It recently came to my attention that someone in the Oregon Department of Justice was racially profiling Black Lives Matter activists, making them targets for investigation by several law enforcement agencies. I was appalled and almost blasted Oregon DOJ. But I decided to wait and see how the Kate Brown administration dealt with the news. I’m glad I did.
An Oregon Department of Justice investigator used a search tool to racially profile Twitter users who used the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, the state’s attorney general said in a letter to a civil rights organization Tuesday in which she said she was “appalled” by the practice and has suspended the investigator.
Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum, responding to complaints form the Portland chapter of the Urban League, wrote Tuesday that she has ordered her department to stop using the online search tool and launched an investigation, saying the practice “raises many troubling questions” about law enforcement profiling throughout the state.
One Twitter account targeted by the probe belonged to Erious Johnson, director of civil rights for the state justice department and husband to Nkenge Harmon Johnson, the Urban League’s president.
“On a personal note, I have now seen firsthand how devastating profiling can be — written on the face of a member of my team,” Rosenblum wrote in the letter. “It must not continue.”
Rosenblum said she did not learn about the incident until she received a letter from the local chapter of the Urban League. That letter alerted her that it is “improper, and potentially unlawful, for the Oregon Department of Justice to conduct surveillance and investigations on an Oregonian merely for expressing a viewpoint, or for being a part of a social movement.”
“We are concerned that such unwarranted investigations are racially motivated, and create a chilling effect on social justice advocates, political activists and others who wish to engage in discourse about the issues of our time,” continued the letter, which was also signed by the local affiliates of the NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union, and the AFL-CIO… [emphasis added]
I’m please to report that, here in Oregon, Black Lives DO matter. I called AG Ellen Rosenblum’s office and requested that the perpetrator, who was suspended, be terminated.
I’m running quite late today, because I was dealing with extreme Republicitis. In spite of laxatives every day, I had not Republicated in over a week. They gave me a suppository, and I had to use the bedpan twice this morning. Fortunately the Republicans I produced were flushed quickly, because they were nasty enough to join the Clown Car. They will be putting me in the wheelchair in about thirty minutes, and I’ll eat lunch there. After that I’ll take a spin around the unit.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: On Tuesday night, Fox Business will host the next debate between the 2016 GOP presidential contenders. All involved are hoping to avoid a repeat of the last such event, the CNBC fiasco which left the moderators embarrassed and the campaigns whining. But while the Republicans have been fretting about the debate format, questions, opening and closing statements, bathroom breaks and even the room temperature, the GOP White House wannabees have a much bigger problem. As a spate of recent analyses once again confirmed, the U.S. economy almost always does better under Democratic presidents.
Going back to Herbert Hoover, the economy grew faster, job creation accelerated, incomes expanded and stock prices jumped higher when a Democrat sat in the Oval Office. And as the New Democrat Network documented last month, the last four presidencies are no exception…
The only people who do well under a Republican Reich are Banksters and the 1%.
From The New Yorker: In a potential stumbling block for his Presidential ambitions, a new study indicates that the average American can stand only four seconds of exposure to Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican.
The study, conducted by University of Minnesota researchers during Tuesday night’s Republican debate, required subjects to be connected to electrodes to measure their tolerance for the senator.
Within four seconds of watching Cruz, the majority of participants begged to be released from the experiment, researchers reported.
I think Andy is exaggerating. Four seconds is way too long to tolerate Uranus Inspector.
From Alternet: Fox Business hosted the fourth Republican presidential debate on Tuesday. Unlike its sister network Fox News, many are unfamiliar with the low-rated Fox Business. But Media Matters has been watching since the network’s debut in 2007.
Here are 35 of the worst things to appear on the “business” network.
Well it poured rain last night, pinging off the rain spout at a ferocious rate. I was very glad to be inside! The rain continues this morning but not hard like last night. Thanks to Lona who sent me a fresh supply of cat naps. I availed myself of two yesterday which was good for the cold/cough. Today is scheduled to be a low key day with laundry a prime concern. Can't have a "furless" sasquatch!
Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:51 (average 6:11). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Short Takes
The New Yorker — To winnow the field of candidates who would hold the main stage in the second G.O.P. debate, in September, CNN had intended to use the average of national polls conducted over the summer. But after Carly Fiorina’s campaign complained that the method was unfair CNN changed its formula. The decision had very little to do with American democracy or social science. It had to do with the practice of American journalism. It would make better television if Fiorina was on the same stage as Trump, since he’d made comments about her appearance. (“Look at that face!” he said.)
“No one tells me what to say,” Trump had said in August. By September, on the defensive about Fiorina, he insisted—he knew—that he had the will of the people behind him. “If you look at the polls,” he said, “a lot of people like the way I talk.”
Donald Trump is a creature of the polls. He is his numbers. But he is only a sign of the times. Turning the press into pollsters has made American political culture Trumpian: frantic, volatile, shortsighted, sales-driven, and anti-democratic.
He kept his lead nearly till the end of October. “Do we love these polls?” he called out to a crowd in Iowa. “Somebody said, ‘You love polls.’ I said that’s only because I’ve been winning every single one of them. Right? Right? Every single poll.” Two days later, when he lost his lead in Iowa to Ben Carson, he’d grown doubtful: “I honestly think those polls are wrong.” By the week of the third G.O.P. debate, he’d fallen behind in a national CBS/NYT poll. “The thing with these polls, they’re all so different,” Trump said, mournfully. “It’s not very scientific.”
This is a long but interesting article about polling and the reliance on and influence of polls in the electoral process. The uneducated mind may rely on polls too much as politicians may rely on them to inform their policy positions rather than listening to their constituents. Click through for the rest of this article.
Think Progress — In August, New York-based Amalgamated Bank announced it would immediately raise its minimum pay to at least $15 an hour.
At the time, the bank noted that it was the first to make such an announcement. But it’s also committed to making sure more follow its lead.
The bank, which is owned by the union OPEIU, came to the $15 wage floor in the midst of contract negotiations with the union. The contract also specifies automatic 3 percent increases each year, ensuring annual raises for its workforce. “It’s a bold move,” said CEO Keith Mestrich. “We need to be bold like that.”
This is great news! When I started as a teller, I was paid about $1.55 per hour. That was 45 years ago. But even then, I could not afford to share an apartment with rent of $250 per month. Click through for the rest of the story.
Huffington Post — Republican presidential candidates debated once again on economic issues and offered some misleading takes on jobs, tax plans, immigrants and state budgets.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said that “welders make more money than philosophers.” Actually, those with undergraduate degrees in philosophy earn a higher median income than welders.
Businessman Donald Trump said that President Dwight D. Eisenhower had forced out 1.5 million immigrants who were in the country illegally. The federal government claimed it was 1.3 million, but historians say that’s exaggerated.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the Tax Foundation calculated that his tax plan “costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth.” But the foundation said Bobby Jindal’s and Rubio’s plans both would lead to higher gross domestic product growth over a decade.
Cruz also repeated the years-long falsehood that there’s a “congressional exemption” from Obamacare. Members of Congress and their staffs face additional requirements than other Americans, not fewer.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said that his state has had “eight credit upgrades,” but two credit rating agencies moved the state to a “negative” outlook in February. And it faces a $117 million deficit in its most recent budget.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he had cut his state budget by 11 percent during the 2001-2003 recession. Over his entire tenure, however, spending went up by 50 percent.
Jindal claimed that there were “more people working in Louisiana than ever before.” That’s wrong. There were fewer Louisianans working in September than there were in December 2014.
Huckabee said that Syrians make up only 20 percent of the refugees arriving in Europe. The figure is actually 52 percent for 2015.
Click through for the analysis of these claims. I was very surprised when I didn't see statements from Fiorini reported. But then I saw the following article.
Think Progress — “We need to pass the REINS Act so Congress is in charge of regulation,” Fiorina told the debate audience, referring to an obscure bill intended to hobble federal agency action. Though it is unlikely that many people in the audience know what the REINS Act is, this bill has long been one of the top priorities of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the primary lobbying group representing big business as a whole. Moreover, the bill has a fairly high chance of becoming law if Republicans gain control over both houses of Congress and the presidency. The bill passed the GOP-controlled House on multiple occasions.
The Congress is already known as the "do nothing Congress" and this would only make it worse. This is an asinine suggestion from a business person who was a complete failure! Click through for the remainder of the article about a bill that few know about.
I am the granddaughter of a WWI veteran, and the daughter and stepdaughter of WWII veterans. All have passed away now, but never their memories. When I saw this pictorial article in The Atlantic, I wanted to share it with you. For me it is very moving.
One hundred years ago, in the summer of 1914, a series of events set off an unprecedented global conflict that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 16 million people, dramatically redrew the maps of Europe, and set the stage for the 20th Century.
The First World War was the first truly global war because of the colonial influences of European nations around the globe. It was also supposed to be "the war to end all wars". Well that certainly didn't work out, did it!
I planned to watch the excrement flow, last night, but providence intervened. Just as clowns were about to take the stage, I fell asleep and stayed that way for several hours. While that’s great for my peace of mind, it leaves me having to rely on others reporting.
After weeks of personal sniping, the Republican presidential candidates clashed sharply over immigration and other policies in their debate here on Tuesday, with Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida trying to energize their campaigns by heaping scorn on Donald J. Trump’s plan to deport unauthorized immigrants.
In the most substantive Republican debate so far, Mr. Kasich and Mr. Bush, who have been fading in polls, presented themselves as experienced chief executives who had practical solutions to deal with national challenges like immigration. Yet Mr. Trump and another candidate, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, inveighed against what they called amnesty and argued that undocumented workers were driving down Americans’ wages.
The splintering over immigration, in a campaign dominated so far by the personas, speeches and backgrounds of the candidates, illuminated the brightest dividing line between Republican hopefuls like Mr. Bush and Mr. Kasich, who favor a comprehensive immigration overhaul, and the many primary voters who have embraced Mr. Trump’s harsh language about immigrants in the country illegally.
While several other candidates, like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and the retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, received a pass from the moderators on immigration, Mr. Kasich took on the issue directly after Mr. Trump defended his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border and to identify and deport some 11 million people..
Lets not forget that what Strike Three Bush and KKK Kasich consider “comprehensive” reform includes no path to citizenship. The rest are just as bad as Hairball and Uncle Token. They are just better at disguising their intent.
There was a lot for Democrats to like, also.
Republicans weren’t the only ones watching Tuesday’s night Republican presidential debate on the Fox Business Network. Democrats were too, eager to find fodder to attack whomever emerges as the GOP nominee next year. “Sometimes I think that the Republican candidates forget it’s not just Republicans who are watching these debates,” said Democratic National Committee chairwomen Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, saying the candidates were exposed “pander[ing] to their Tea Party base.”
Here are six moments from last night’s debate most likely to end up in a Democratic attack ad next year:
No one wants to raise the minimum wage
Raising the minimum wage is widely popular, but all three Republican presidential candidates asked about it Tuesday night said they oppose raising the level. “Wages [are] too high,” Donald Trump said, suggesting wages actually needed to be lowered to create jobs. Dr. Ben Carson agreed, saying the current minimum wage hurts African Americans by limiting the number of entry-level jobs…
As expected, the clowns often made claims that were based on lies .MSNBC’s Olivia Sterns breaks down the GOP reaction to issues such as taxes, immigration, minimum wage, jobs and health care during the debate.
All things considered, if you watched it, I offer my profound sympathy. If you believe what they said, I strongly suggest that you get psychiatric care.
An Oregon Department of Justice investigator used a search tool to racially profile Twitter users who used the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, the state’s attorney general 
After weeks of personal sniping, the Republican presidential candidates clashed sharply over immigration and other policies in their 
Republicans weren’t the only ones watching Tuesday’s night Republican presidential debate on the Fox Business Network. Democrats were too, eager to find fodder to attack whomever emerges as the GOP nominee next year. “Sometimes I think that the Republican candidates forget it’s not just Republicans who are watching these debates,” said Democratic National Committee chairwomen Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, saying the candidates were exposed “pander[ing] to their Tea Party base.”