Hi everybody! I am back with more "stuff" that I hope will interest you. This coming week is a verry busy one for me between physio, teaching ESL, and taking my mother to appointments. As such, there may not be an Open Thread every day. I will tell you, I have a new appreciation for all the work Tom does to get the blog out, and he is a speed reader and extremely knowledgable on US politics.
Puzzle — Ship Building http://www.jigzone.com/puzzles/2015-09-13 my time 3:34 average time 4:30 How did you do?
Short Takes
Washington Post — H/T to JD — Corbyn’s rise echoes that of another senior-citizen socialist who has come out of nowhere this year to rattle his party's center-left establishment. Like Corbyn, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been waging a surprisingly effective insurgency in a campaign that was once thought to be unwinnable.
“If you’re Bernie Sanders, you’ll take some heart from this,” said Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London. “If you’re Hillary Clinton, you’ll be nervous.”
While Sanders is still fighting uphill in his effort to outmaneuver Clinton for the Democratic nomination, Corbyn’s once-quixotic-seeming campaign ended Saturday with a landslide win. Nearly 60 percent of voters backed him over three more centrist rivals just four months after Labour suffered one of its worst-ever defeats in national elections.
There certainly are movements globally for more people centred governance as evidence by the excitement around Bernie Sanders, the dump Stephen Harper in Canada, the disappointment with Tony Abbott in Australia, and now the Labour Party in the UK. Now, if only Citizens United could be overturned in the US. A related story can also be seen at http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-corbyn-and-the-coming-debate-inside-the-democratic-party/2015/09/12/a23673f4-597e-11e5-8bb1-b488d231bba2_story.html
The Nation — Appearing before the senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1966, George Kennan, the legendary Cold War diplomat often called “the father of containment,” criticized the escalation of the war in Vietnam. The United States, he said, should not “jump around like an elephant frightened by a mouse.”
Kennan’s metaphor of the frightened elephant is a strangely apt one for the situation in which we find ourselves nearly half a century later. In the GOP primary, the candidates are calling for a foreign policy defined by fearmongering and senseless aggression. Their agenda includes plans to reverse President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran; abandon renewed diplomatic ties with Cuba; escalate tensions with Russia; and deploy US troops to Syria. Much like Kennan’s agitated elephant, the Republican candidates see challenges posed by Iran, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, the Islamic State and other extremist groups that are far out of proportion to any real harm they could ever inflict on US interests. They are so out of touch with reality that even admitting the folly of the Iraq War is seen by them as a sign of weakness. The far greater danger is the combination of paranoia and hubris that characterizes the foreign policies of the Republican candidates, who would lead us into still more self-inflicted disasters. They would have us rush to embrace unnecessarily militaristic responses to otherwise manageable challenges, bringing yet more chaos to the Middle East and Eastern Europe while costing the nation even more in lives and treasure.
http://www.thenation.com/article/the-danger-of-foreign-policy-by-bumper-sticker/
Although a long artical, it is certainly worth reading. Katrina vanden Heuve makes some great points. And who could resist looking at that picture of McTurtle with his back-up choir which includes Cornyn of Texas.
Daily Kos — Sarah Palin continues to entertain us with her superior intellect. Could it be that she formulates her words in a manner only some can understand? Well, Rachel Maddow has asked for our help in deciphering a strange and convoluted statement Palin made at the rally against the Iran Nuclear Agreement.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/10/1420001/-Sarah-Palin-confounds-Rachel-Maddow-Tell-me-what-this-means?detail=emailclassic
Do read the rest of this short piece, and if you can't understand Palin, you're in good company! I might even venture to say that if you do understand, you've been possessed by Teabuggery! Saints preserve us! You know it is bad when even Glenn Beck is wishing he didn't know Sister Sarah!
My Universe — Since I can't do cartoons like TC, JL suggested something like this, at least that's what I thought she meant. Being the ailurophile I am, I thought I would treat you to this new feline birthing method!
40 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 13/09/2015”
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Fun video Lynn!
Nice combination of the hope the first article provides of a move towards people-focused policies and candidates vs. the horrors of those whose priorities are focused elsewhere.
P.S.–I had noted many of your recent posts on Care2 seemed to fit the descriptor I used and this one does, too!
And I'll add the Hat Tip to Joanne for the Corbyn story idea
Fixed. I was wrapped up in getting things right that I forgot to get it in. Thanks JL!
Great! You are welcome!
Excellent post, Lynn! And love the video! That is unique! I've never seen cats born that way! And I thought they had to come from another momma cat! I have been ill informed all my life! LOL!
TomCat will be tickled!
Sunday puzzle ship in drydock 4:30 (4:38) Was rushing to do that – out of breath now. More later.
3:18 Let's get this ship in the water.
3:05 No dry dock for my ship.
She ain't no landlubber! Sailing high!
WaPo – It is indeed heartening to see SOMEONE actually take action to get an intelligent person into leadership. We, along with you, Lynn, and Oz, are still in the talking about it stage. If we can keeo up the momentum and actually get liberal people elected in all of these places – what's the saying, the proof of the pudding is in the eating?
The Nation – In the current mood of the country it is sometimes hard to grasp how difficult it was to get the US to participate at all in the two World Wars. We were so isolationist at that time. Now we seem to have become interventionist. Both extremes are forms of arrogance, I think. Bottom line is that it is very difficult for people, especially people who never learned to think, to recognize that there is a difference between countries that are really in a jam and desperately need help, and countries that are finding their own way (sometimes with growing pains) and need to be left alone – let alone actually put the countries into the correct categories!
DKos – What is really, really scary is that she might have been a heartbeat away from the Presidency. There are, thank God, some catastrophes we have managed to avert.
Universe – Now that's what I need – where can you buy that bubble mix LOL?
I tried, but google only gave me ordinary bubble information and a bubble game of some sort that took too long to load for me to wait–sorry Joanne
Oh, shucky darn.
Is that a synonym for pockey huck?
WOW! I'm very, VERY impressed! You're doing a GREAT job. (OK, sorry – sometimes my "Caps Lock" key sticks)
Congrats – Kudos – Thanks!
I'm going to dink here, because it seems to me that you should be able to create HTML hyperlinks just like regular HTML protocol, rather than format them all as copy/paste – but I guess we'll find out …
Puzzle – Ship Building
Won't know until I post the Comment – but it looks promising
YIPPEE! It Worked! (Damn "Caps Lock" key)
Welcome back Nameless and thanks for piloting that!
OK, so it works! Great!! Can you instruct me in the find art of hyper links? I can do it in Care2 but when I once tried it here, TC had to fix it so it looked right.
Fortunately posting a hyperlink is pretty straightforward.
[1] Copy the URL of the page you want to Link to
[2] Write the text in this Comment box as you normally would, and then highlight the text words you want to use as the Link (In this case it was "Puzzle – Ship Building")
[3] Go to the Toolbox at the top of the Comment box. On mine (may be different w/ different browsers – but I doubt it) it's in the second row down, third from the end.
When you hover your cursor over the little icons, it tells you what they reference [Starting from the left on the second row it's "Insert/Remove Numbered List", "Insert/Remove Bulleted List" etc. –> keep moving to the right till you get to the circular turquoise one – it's "LINK"
[4] Click on that "Link" icon – paste your URL where the flashing cursor is
[NOTE: It's hard to see the flashing cursor, but it's in the white dialog area below "URL" – which is also hard to see because it's black font on a dark blue background]
[5] Click "OK"
You should be good to go
Hyperlinks are available to everyone
Thanks for the clear instructions!
You're Welcome!
After all, we could ALL use a Hug about now …
Amen! Email might provide some comfort Nameless-hope appt. went well
Purrrrrrfect hug!
Lynn you have done a great job and I am sure TC will be happy. I hope we get some news about him tomorrow.
Washington Post: Corbyn sounds like the kind of person I could vote for with pleasure. I hope Bernie has as much success.
The Nation: All the potential GOP candidates seem war hungry. Don't they realize we cannot police the whole world and Americans are sick of war? The arms industry, along with the energy companies and Big Pharma really dictate to our Congress.
Daily Kos: I couldn't get the link to work, will go directly to Daily Kos. That said, I hope I never understand what Palin says. If I do, please petition to have me put away.
Video: That would be my husband's worst nightmare, to have me able to make cats appear in bubbles. He swears there is a sign at the end of our driveway welcoming any and all cats to take up residence here.
WaPo: We really need to move forward with new thinking as illustrated by Corbyn with Bernie Sanders. Bernie has so much to offer!
The Nation: People all over the globe are sick and tired of war with good reasons. The GOP continues to rattle their sabers for more war with constant fear mongering. We can see much better than the GOP can. Why support GOP and the Corporations of war for their obvious greed for money and profits.
KOS: Sarah's real name is "Sarah Palinsane".
My Universe: Kitties come in a bubble… omg.
WaPo: Glad to see that he's won. He's on the same page as Bernie. Go Bernie!
Daily Kos: I saw this on Rachel's show. I nominate Tina Fey to replace her. lol.
Lynn, you've done a wonderful job getting this out here, so nice to see the format. Thank you for the post, and do appreciate it. Prayers for TC as we go into another week. Take care, all.
Email this morning says Turnbull has replaced Abbott but remains committed to continuing the same policies
Many thanks to all who are keeping the site up and active, and the work behind the scenes.
I'm probably going to be scarce because …
[1] As I mentioned, my computer crashed w/ a dreadful "Operating System Not Found" – which does not provide access to anything (well, I can get to the BIOS window – but nothing else)
I'm limping along using my laptop – which I now wish I had been more religious in syncing w/ my desktop. (I use AeroFS which I've been happy with – but it takes hours to update the files from my desktop to my laptop – so I tended to drop the ball)
I do have an External Hard Drive which I have kept updated regularly, but I have yet to move files from it to my laptop.
[2] I'm dealing w/ a nasty mastoiditis that I can't seem to shake. Will see my ENT later today
May your ENT have a proposed solution that makes a difference quickly
Ditto to jla. That is the last thing you needed. We are pulling for you.
You're in my prayers and thoughts!
Hanky alert:
http://www.upworthy.com/14-photos-of-a-syrian-wedding-show-just-how-resilient-love-can-be?c=upw1&u=6ffb12f2d750fff1c628f4ed4366938bb526f1d5
Great job, Lynn, Thank you so much for taking this upon yourself and also thanks to those who've supported you in this (Nameless, JL A, Joanne …) Please don't feel pressured to do this every day and make sure that your own priorities come first, TomCat will be tickled pink with the marvelous job you're all doing.
Washington Post: Corbyn's election really gives me hope that we're about to turn a corner and get more sensible politicians aka "socialists" back into politics and in places that matter. We might not win the war soon, but they have voices that demand being heard and reckoned with and in the end sense will prevail.
It is worrisome though that both Corbyn and Sanders are so old. Not that I think they couldn't do the job, au contraire, but in time, and that will be sooner in their case than for younger candidates, they will have to make way for the next generation and that generation doesn't seem to be very socialist/idealistic minded. Where is that generation which will win this war?
The Nation: Excellent article which also points out why we should have more progressive leadership. The Right does what the Right has always done: get others to fight a war, make as much money from it as possible and then run.
Daily Kos: The first thing that came to mind when I heard her speak was: "she was drunk when she wrote that and she still hasn't sobered up enough to realize she's babbling. She should be left in a dark room to sleep it off and then be forgotten.
My Universe: Not only is this an extremely kind and pain-free birthing method, the conception is quite unusual too 🙂
WaPo ~ Hillary's campaign is staring to get worried. More and more people are waking up to the Bern. We have a great chance of winning next year in spite of MM bad habit of ignoring the best candidate this country has for the job of POTUS. Itt's good to see othe countries doing the same. Abbott unseated in Australia in favor of Malcolm Turnbull, a populist.
Th Nation ~ I first became acquainted with the writings of Katrina vanden Heuve via the Jon Stewart Show where she was a favored guest. She speaks the truth about their fear-mongering. I experienced the joy of listening to this type of drivel 3 mornings a week at PT because they have FAUX NOISE on all the time. I have everything I can do to contain the laughter or the verbal outburst of WTF!
Daily Kos ~ I watched Rachel's show that night and it was hilarious.
My Universe ~ This is fantastic!
Great job again, Squatch!
Monday Flamingo 4:38 (4:57) That's a mighty big bird.
3:43 If nobody steals this bird away from me, I am saving it for TomCat.
He'll appreciate that kindness Jerry!
3:03 Jerry, TC will appreciate the thought but I wrestled the bird from you! Now will Patty take it away from me?
Thanks everyone!
Thanks Lynn – sorry, away with kidney stones.