Politics Plus

Today has been one of those days . . . physiotherapy, a few messages and then home to work on this Open Thread.  It didn't take long for my concentration to wane and my eyes to close while at the keyboard.  Then my head would snap to, I'd continue until the eyes were heavy again. Snap!  I took a Lona cat nap just for an hour and that seemed to work.  But now, it really is time for bed.  Maybe it is all the euphoria of Trudeau's slaughter of Harper.  On the other hand, tomorrow would have been the 124th birthday of my grandfather who I dearly loved.  He passed away at 99.5 years and his memorial service was on my birthday.  We were so close that when he passed, I could not be sad for him.  He was ready.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:43 (average 3:54). 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 — In the aftermath of former Virginia senator James Webb’s announcement that he is quitting the Democratic Presidential primary, a new poll shows his bitter rival Lincoln Chafee surging to two per cent of likely voters.

The former Rhode Island governor, whose path to the White House was predicated on knocking Webb out of the race, could not contain his jubilation as he told supporters in Concord, New Hampshire, that his campaign is now “solidly in the single digits.”

Webb has dropped out and it is time for Chaffee to do the same.

Alternet — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not known for his nuance, but his disregard for historical facts themselves took a new turn today as he claimed, in a speech in Israel, that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler actually did not want to exterminate Jews until a Palestinian religious leader convinced him otherwise.

How typical of "Republicans", Butcher Ben included . . . ignore facts and rewrite history . . . or at least try to.  Check HERE to read some about Haj Amin al-Husseini.

Think Progress — The Supreme Court is also complicit in the wave of “curbs on voting rights” that Yglesias notes in his piece. In a party-line vote, a 5-4 Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, enabling many voter ID laws, gerrymandered maps and other legislation that would have otherwise been blocked to go into effect. Similarly, the Court in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board effectively greenlighted Voter ID laws — one of the most common examples of state laws that exclude voters likely to support Democrats. The Court’s plurality opinion cited concerns about in-person voter fraud to justify this outcome, even though the opinion could only find one example of such fraud occurring in the United States within the preceding 140 years!

In my opinion, there is much more election fraud than voter fraud, and most of that is engineered by the Republicans or their agents provocateurs.  They use gerrymandering, voter ID laws, election day theatrics etc to deny the vote of groups that traditionally vote for Democrats and then have the temerity to call it voter fraud. 

Alternet — Texas is many things to many people—a state the size of a medium-sized country; home to several idiot governors, one who became president, and a current one who thinks it’s a good idea for college students to openly carry firearms. To Donald Trump, Texas is the place where a "big, beautiful wall" should be built. To people in Norway, “texas” with a small “t” is a synonym for crazy, bonkers, out of control and wild. As in, that’s totally texas. Or in Norwegian: det var helt texas.

When I first saw this, I had to give my head a shake and try to stop laughing.  There are some fine people in Texas, but the Republican craziness of people like Louis Gohmert is really getting around and giving the state a bad rep.  I file this under humour!

My Universe — H/t Nameless

TC in his younger years!

I wanted this picture for last Tuesday's Fantasy Football update but I misfiled it.

For me, today has been hectic.  When I finally arrived home about 5 pm, I wanted to check on election results but that had to wait until I indulged in one of Lona's cat naps.  And what would a cat nap be without furry critters purring away?  Now, if I could only convince the critters not to shed!  But at least Canadians shed the Harper government!!!  Today's thread is a little longer with the Canadian election results included.  To say the least, I am a happy Canuck!!!  Too bad Harper wasn't defeated in his own constituency though.

Puzzle — Today’s took me 2:34 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.

Short Takes 

Huffington Post — No, John Oliver's not going to a Canadian jail. He can also keep that $5,000 he was apparently ready to dish over to Canadian authorities.

The comedian devoted a segment to Canada's election on his HBO show, "Last Week Tonight," which culminated in mockery of a law forbidding foreigners from influencing Canadian elections.

He ridiculed its maximum six-month prison penalty and $5,000 fine. Oliver's seeming desire to fight the re-election of Stephen Harper was apparently so great that he was willing to risk it all, tossing money at the camera and practically daring Canada to arrest him.

Today, Monday 19/10/2015, is election day here in Canada.  It is 7:30 pm and the polls in BC and the Yukon are now closed and the counting begins.  We already know that the Liberals, headed by Justin Trudeau, have taken Atlantic Canada with 31 of 32 seats.  By all anecdotal accounts, the polling stations have been very busy, some with long line ups, but none to rival Florida's line ups in the last US election.  It will be interesting to see what the final results and the turn out are.  Enjoy John Oliver "reporting" on our election process with the aid of Canadian ex-pat, Mike Meyers.  It had me laughing!

Think Progress — “Whether it is in mosques, education or charities, the strategy will reinforce perceptions that all aspects of Muslim life must undergo a ‘compliance’ test to prove our loyalty to this country,” Shuja Shafi, the Muslim Council of Britain’s Secretary General, told Reuters.

And according to Reuters, an independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation named David Anderson warned that such measures could actually backfire, driving members of the Muslim community toward extremism and terrorism.

It seems that conservatives, whether American, Canadian, British, or any other, operate in a climate of fear rather than hope and reconciliation. Cameron's policies seem to have caught even some in his own party by surprise and with concern.  Is it correct to tar and feather everyone in a group, in this case British Muslims, along with extremists?

CBC — Canadians, he said, had sent a clear message that it's "time for change in this country my friends. Real change."

"We beat fear with hope," Trudeau said. "We beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together."

At dissolution of the last government, the Conservatives held 159 seats, NDP 95, Liberal 36, Bloc Québécois 2, Green Party 2, Strength in Democracy 2, Independent 8, and 4 vacant seats.  As a result of the last census, 30 new seats were created for a total of 338.  For a majority government, a party will have to win 170 seats.  The results of today's election have Liberals with 184 seats, Conservatives 99, NDP 44, Bloc Québécois 10, and Green Party 1.  Stephen Harper retained his seat but has stepped down as the Conservative leader.  Justin Trudeau is the new Prime Minister of Canada.  Phew!!!

Huffington Post — Monday's federal election saw the biggest voter turnout in the country in over 20 years, according to preliminary results from Elections Canada.

The government organization said 17.5 million of 25.6 million registered voters cast a ballot — a turnout of 68.3 per cent.

This is what 'get out the vote' looks like, and yet, this turnout is nowhere near the 1958 turnout of 79.4% that brought Progressive Conservative John Diefenbaker to power, nor the 79.2% turnout that ousted Diefenbaker in favour of Liberal Lester Pearson.

Daily Kos — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman keeps cracking down on wage theft, and around 250 workers will be sharing in a nearly $500,000 settlement from four current and former Papa John's franchisees.

This is great news for the workers, but when will justice be served and these corporate criminals go to prison?  If you or I stole something and were caught, we would go to jail.  Why not these corporate criminals who have stolen wages etc?

My Universe —