{"id":17425,"date":"2015-11-20T11:51:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T19:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=17425"},"modified":"2015-11-20T11:51:42","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T19:51:42","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-20112015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/20\/squatchs-open-thread-20112015\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open Thread 20\/11\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was -4 C (25 F) this morning when I awoke, and is only just freezing as I write.  There was definitely frost on the rooves but no birds tobogganing on my slippery garage roof.  Being this cold at my level, there certainly will have been more snow on the mountains above me.  I am teaching this afternoon so will be out until at least 5 pm.  Have a great day everyone!<\/span><\/p>\n

Puzzle — <\/strong>Today’s took me 3:52 (average 6:42). To do it, <\/span>click here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. How did you do? <\/span><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Alternet<\/span><\/a> <\/strong>— <\/strong>Paradoxically, at a time when the stakes are especially high for who becomes the next president, we have a free-for-all politics in which anyone can become a candidate, put together as much funding as they need, claim anything about themselves no matter how truthful, advance any proposal no matter how absurd, and get away bigotry without being held accountable.<\/p>\n

Why? Americans have stopped trusting the mediating institutions that used to filter and scrutinize potential leaders on behalf of the rest of us.<\/p>\n

As usual, the Reich on the left is correct.  But I don't think Americans have necessarily "stopped trusting mediating institutions" but rather many have lost the ability to think clearly and critically, especially when it comes to the governance of the states and country.  It seems to me that the clown car isn't just filled with the Republican candidates, but also their donors and the whole Republican structure.  Click through for the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

CBC<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — Superficially, the fearful reaction of Canadian, U.S, and European politicians to a new wave of Syrian immigrants may seem rational.<\/p>\n

In the wake of horrific attacks in Paris, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall<\/a> has asked that Canada's Syrian immigration plan be suspended. In Poland and some U.S. states, leaders have said they no longer want Syrian immigrants at all.<\/p>\n

A more careful examination of what happened in Paris will tell us our worries should lie elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The best antidote to the kind of domestic Islamic radicalism that we have seen in Europe is not fear of immigration, but successful economic and social integration of new immigrants into the Canadian mainstream.<\/p>\n

Click through for the rest of the article.  I agree with Pittis.  As Abraham Maslow showed, people need to provide for their physical and safety needs first.  These include: (from http:\/\/www.simplypsychology.org\/maslow.html) <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Biological and Physiological needs – air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.<\/p>\n

Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In order to continue to progress in a different culture, the refugees must be able to work and contribute to their family's well being and their own.  That feeling of success will lead to greater success.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternet<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — What follows are a dozen excerpts from Sanders' speech of what democratic socialism means to him and could mean for the country. It is a vision of a better world that starts with improving the economics and the dignity of Americans at home, which in turn Sanders said would better position America to face challenges from abroad, such as the terrorist threat posed by ISIS, which he addressed in the final quarter of his 100-minute speech.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Major political and economic reforms<\/strong>. “Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system which is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy. Democratic socialism, to my mind, speaks to a system, which for example during the 1990s—and I want you to hear this—allowed Wall Street to spend $5 billion, over a 10-year period, in lobbying and campaign contributions in order to get deregulated. They wanted the government off of their backs. They wanted to do whatever they wanted to do….<\/p>\n

"Then, 10 years later, after the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior led to their collapse, what our system enabled them to get bailed out by the United States government, which through Congress and the Fed, provided trillions of dollars in aid to Wall Street. In other words, Wall Street used their wealth and power to get Congress to do their bidding for deregulation, and then when Wall Street collapsed, they used their wealth and power to get bailed out. Quite a system!<\/p>\n

“And then, to add insult to injury, we were told that not only were the banks too big to fail, we were told that the bankers were too big to jail. And this is the system. Young people who get caught possessing marijuana, they get police records—and many many hundreds of thousands have police records that have impacted their lives in serious ways. On the other hand, Wall Street CEOs who help destroy the economy, they don’t get police records, they get raises in their salaries. And this is what Martin Luther King, Jr. meant when he talked about socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else.”<\/p>\n

Click through for the other 11 exerpts plus Bernie's thoughts on foreign policy.  <\/span>Politico<\/span><\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>a 93 seconds video of Bernie's speech, a transcript which follows.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“Against the ferocious opposition of the ruling class of his day, people he called economic royalists, Roosevelt implemented a series of programs that put millions of people back to work, took them out of poverty, and restored our faith in government. He redefined the relationship of the federal government to the people of our nation. He combatted cynicism, fear and despair. He reinvigorated democracy. He transformed the country, and that is what we have to do today,” said the Vermont senator, an independent who caucuses with Democrats while identifying as a democratic socialist.<\/p>\n

“And, by the way, almost everything he proposed, almost every program, every idea, was called ’socialist.'"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I make no bones about it, Bernie would fit in nicely in Canada, a social democracy.  Feel the Bern!<\/span>
\n\t <\/p>\n

My Universe <\/strong>— Who doesn't love panda bears?  These are at the end of a <\/span>Huffington Post<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/strong>article about zoo penguins in Denmark trying to escape.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I want the little one in the last picture sleeping on his belly and using neighbour as a pillow.  Reminds me of how my cats often sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was -4 C (25 F) this morning when I awoke, and is only just freezing as I write.  There was definitely frost on the rooves but no birds tobogganing on my slippery garage roof.  Being this cold at my level, there certainly will have been more snow on the mountains above me.  I am teaching […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-politics","category-35-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}