I’m writing for tomorrow, day 48. In a little over an hour, my Broncos will begin their service in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and I shall be in full meditation mode.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:22 (average 4:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Agony:
Short Takes:
From NY Times: More than a century has passed since Norman Angell, a British journalist and politician, published “The Great Illusion,” a treatise arguing that the age of conquest was or at least should be over. He didn’t predict an end to warfare, but he did argue that aggressive wars no longer made sense — that modern warfare impoverishes the victors as well as the vanquished.
He was right, but it’s apparently a hard lesson to absorb. Certainly Vladimir Putin never got the memo. And neither did our own neocons, whose acute case of Putin envy shows that they learned nothing from the Iraq debacle.
Click through. Paul Krugman is right. Republicans adopted Putin (R-RU) into the Republican Party, because of his hatred of gays and bellicose attitude. "GOP Pootie" is a poster child for Republican imperialism and bigotry.
From Raw Story: The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to extend a stay sought by Florida officials defending the state’s ban on same-sex marriages, allowing gay marriages to proceed in Florida next month.
Weddings would be allowed to start on Jan. 6 under an order by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta earlier this month.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision.
Great News! The votes from SS and TEAbag are no surprise.
From Daily Kos: While we’re "debating" torture, access to basic health care and the veracity of climate change, the rest-of-the-world is simply advancing transformational infrastructure like you would not believe.
In Switzerland, the world’s longest rail tunnel — straight through the Alps — is about to open.
At 57 kilometres, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which will travel through the Alps between the northern portal of Erstfeld and Bodio in the south, will become the longest rail tunnel in the world once complete, stripping the title from Japan’s 53.85 kilometre Seikan Tunnel.
Meanwhile, the ancient tunnels between New York City and New Jersey — dating from 1910 and about 4,400 meters long — are so old — and damaged from recent hurricanes — that they risk forced closure — and economic catastrophe for America’s largest city — at any time.
Click through. Instead of giving all the money to the 0.1% we could be building amazing things here.
Cartoon:
Borrowed from Europe.
13 Responses to “Open Thread–12/23/2014”
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3:16 Somebody stole my Lincoln Logs!
3:10 It wasn't me. They were already gone when I came by.
3:15 Now there's an item I haven't heard of in years — Lincoln Logs. I loved playing with those.
4:31 average up to 4:48. Another example of animation/claymation/plastic suddenly becoming popular at Christmas. Three days in a row now.
NY Times – Krugman is always right and often profound. "…like everyone who presides over a bubble, he surely convinced himself that he was responsible for his own success." What a sentence! I have a nickname for the phenomenon – "testosterone poisoning." That's not an indictment of testosterone – many good things can be poisonous in excess – but a descriptor, though it may explain some police brutality along the way (if you think they are not taking hormones, I disagree). And a few other strange neocon attitudes. Remember "I can't worship someone who couldn't beat me up"?
Raw Story – There will, of course, be county clerks who refuse to issue licenses anyway. However the coules will at least have someone in their corner.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/21/1353360/-Fla-Attorney-I-m-Willing-To-Sue-All-Clerks-Of-Court-Who-Refuse-To-Issue-Marriage-Licenses?detail=email
Daily Kos – We could indeed. And in doing so, we could be giving employment to Americans. Based on things I and friends have seen in new home construction, we would not only need builders, but A LOT of inspectors. We can't count on pride in one's work any more to prevent dangerous corner-cutting – if indeed we ever could.
Cartoon – When I was a child, I was terrified of Santa. As an adult, I have learned that possibly as many as 40% of kids are. But Santa didn't look as scary as THAT when I was a kid. I may have to go hide under the bed.
Pam Bondi might make suit necessary, Florida AG…
Thanks TC – read all, too bleurgh to comment coherently though – sorry!
Somewhat out of context with the TC's news. Important.
Amy Goodman in 'Democracy Now!' presents a really good program on Bush, Cheney and others on War Crimes & Crimes Against Humanity with many guest speakers and interviews, video quotes. Not to be missed!
"…39 people were "murdered" during captivity…"
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2014
LINK: http://www.democracynow.org/
I use either Miro and/or iTunes to get this program, Democracy Now! and for Rachel Maddow. I don't have a TV hookup. lol.
You can get both of them through here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/23/stream
You may need to download the apps for your computer. They are free.
Good infor, Jim. Thanks.
Thank you Jim, 😆
Krugman always makes a good point. This country is still trying to recover from the war for oil that our neocons started. They made money, no one else did.
Daaily Kos:improving our aging infrastructure should be top priority. It isn't,t he one percent would have to pay taxes if it were, not going to happen with Republicans in charge"
Cartoon…….glad I never saw that Santa!
Puzzle — 3:15 Now there's an item I haven't heard of in years — Lincoln Logs. I loved playing with those.
NY Times — Angell was correct. In the US, there are approximately 3 trillion reasons proving his hypothesis.
In Russia, the excursion into Afghanistan years ago, that unwinable war of aggression, left soldiers fighting but not getting paid and rationing of goods at home . . . undeniably big economic consequences, And the Ukraine would be the same because of economic sanctions. How do we, as human beings, make wars of aggression so unpalatable that they are no longer thought of? Wars hurt the innocent but drive the warmongers into fits of grandeur . . . visions of sugar plums dancing in the heads.
I'll have to read this more carefully later . . . I've been out all day and too emotional right now . . . momma stuff.
Raw Story — Only 2 Injustices dessenting . . . that must be a first! I will not hold my breath for a second decision to come out like that.
Daily Kos — My guess is that the wealthy 1% and their Republicanus/Teabaggers will blame Obama when economic catastrophe hits instead of looking in the mirror. Sir Issac Newton's 3rd law of motion seems to fit here metaphorically speaking . . . an equal and opposite reaction. The 1% push to increase their wealth but the equal and opposite reaction is economic catastrophe which in the end hurts everyone, including the corporations and wealthy.
Cartoon — Well when one considers that if children are bad they are told that Santa will only bring coal, that guy looks like he's been dealing with a lot of coal. My guess . . . he's been visiting Republicanus/Teabagger households!
Thanks all. I'm way pooped.
Republican Supply-side Santa is the Krampus.
USA now 3rd world country status… /s