The specter of a few snowflurries still hangs in the air tonight (Tuesday), but the weatherperson has promised some sunshine for tomorrow before it starts to rain again. Today it rained hard and I got soaked again just walking from car to lab and back. After that, I spent most of the day in bed resting until I remembered that I had not finished this post.
Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:06 (average 5:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football
Just 3 more weeks of Fantasy Football left for the 2015 season. The playoffs are here. I've often wondered how the match ups are determined, or perhaps why they are done as they are. For example, #1 Monster Mashers is paired with #8 TomCat Teabag Trashers, and #2 BALCO Bombers is paired with #7 Purple Demon. Enquiring minds want to know!
I think I am about to have my Size 9's stomped by a Lefty Hillbilly! Have fun everyone!
Short Takes
Huffington Post — A U.S. presidential candidate has called for troops to be positioned along the Canadian border, as the American election becomes consumed by national-security fears.
Republican Ben Carson says he wants soldiers and national guard stationed along the Mexican border — and at certain unspecified spots along the Canadian border.
It's one of his Seven Steps to a Safer America, released Tuesday.
So much for the longest undefended border! That said, there are armed border patrols at various points. Paranoia certainly runs deep in the US, and as the author noted "…one security expert who cited the growing number of hijabs he saw in Canada." Between Trump and Carson, I don't know who is the bigger fruitcake.
Think Progress — The United States Army is temporarily allowing a Sikh soldier to grow a beard and wear a turban while serving, a dramatic shift that could usher in a new era of religious accommodation for Sikhs serving in the U.S. military.
Last Wednesday, the Army announced in a letter it would grant a religious exception to Simratpal Singh, a decorated Afghanistan veteran and graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, temporarily allowing him to grow a beard and wrap his hair in a turban. Singh, a Sikh soldier who had been previously forced to shave his hair and beard, will be able to grow and publicly display both during the month-long trial period.
To me, this is a step forward in a country that has many people unwilling to accept such accommodations. This is partly what feedom of religion looks like.
Alternet — Reacting to news that a New York judge — who is a practicing Muslim — took her oath of office using the Koran, commenters flooded a Facebook announcement, calling it an “abomination” and saying she should be arrested.
Following her election last month, Carolyn Walker-Diallo was sworn in as a civil judge for the 7th Municipal District in a Brooklyn Borough hall last Thursday. She chose to take her oath using a Koran instead of a Bible.
My first reaction to this was "this is how it should be". Given that Walker-Diallo is a practising Muslim, an oath on a Bible would be meaningless. While she swore to support the Constitution, perhaps all judges should swear their oaths on the Constitution rather than a religious book. After all, Article VI, paragraph 3 of the Constitution states:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
My Universe —
Thank goodness that is not me with one of my cats! My smallest is 10 kg (22 lbs).
8 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 15/12/2015”
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HuffPo: Carson (and the GOP ilk), needs to go. Far away.
TP: As well they should. Kudos to the USA for doing so. Now, hopefully, all military branches will follow suit.
AlterNet: Congratulations Judge Walker-Diallo!! She's bound by the Oath or Affirmation, to support the Constitution. Good point, I think this should be at their discretion of what 'book' they want to swear on.
Mu Universe: Is it Friday yet? jk. My cat is 16 lbs, and loves my toes. In bed, the dog is at my head, and the cat at the bottom, under the covers! It can get pretty rowdy at times though, vying for mama's attention at 3 a.m. The pictures shows what it's like having a cat in the house. lol.
AniMae: Oh no!! Hope all are safe!!
We're going from 67 to 37 in a matter of hours today. Weird weather this year, down here in TX. Hope that you get some rest, take care.
Thanks, Lynn.
I hope your new soak didn't worsten your cold, Lynn. The wet weather is continuing here too and is really getting on my nereves. Winters are dark, there's nothing for it, but when it is cold and snowing it is at least a bit brighter here, now it's just gloomy as it has been for weeks on end now.
HuPo: This security paranoia is getting the better of many Americans as the insanity of the Republican candidates grows. Soon they'll be needing a wall and border patrols around the country to keep the sane ones in who are trying to flee the country. Honestly, I admire you progressives out there who have to live with this insanity every day for almost another year. I'd hoped that Carson would have gotten the message by now that nobody wants an Uncle Token, as TomCat so aptly calls him, for a president, especially not one that is feeble minded at that, but apparently he's been given some more money to give outdoing Trump and Cruz another try.
ThPr: It is a very tiny and very hesitant step, isn't it: one Sikh allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban for a month as a test? Surely there are more Sikhs in the army to give this test a bit more body. I remember that during the last upsurge of Islamophobia in the US, Sikhs were killed because the perpetrators were so dumb they couldn't distinguish Muslims from Sikhs. Perhaps this is the army's way of avoiding trouble?
Alternet: Carolyn Walker-Diallo was absolutely right in choosing the Koran to take her oath on. A bible would indeed have been meaningless and may even have gotten her into hot water with her own religion. And if she had sworn on the bible the outrage on Facebook would have been just as great, possibly even greater, for "defiling" it as a Muslim. Your solution, Lynn would of course be the best and in line with the separation between church and state, in this case jurisdiction, were it not that the commentators aren't interested in that at all, they just didn't want a Muslim judge on the bench, period.
My Universe: Your cats are enormous, Lynn! Are they all ragamuffins or some other huge breed, or are you looking after them too well 😉
Didn't you say your uncle (or some relative) was a vet? Does he know the size of your critters? Because 10 kg is YUUUGGGEEE for a cat!
Some excellent comments above.
FF: Playoffs are here! Who is going to be the "Grand Wizard"… lol.
HuffPo: Paranoia abounds on both sides of the Canadian/USA border. Carson talks about increasing military funding to protect our borders. We do not need to feed the over bloated military anymore money as it can very well take the money from excessive waste programs elsewhere in the military. We do not need to build s wall on the Canadian/USA border.
One commentator in HuffPo says: "I'm not worried about the crazies in the asylums supporting Carson, I'm worried about the crazies that aren't locked up, supporting Trump."
Think Progress: Once again, Separation of Church and State! The military is a governmental organization. It has its rules and regulations, codes of behavors. Enough said.
Alternet: Let us eliminate the affirmation on any religious text and, instead, start affirming on the Constitution, to uphold it. Separation of Church and State! Perhaps the affirmation, swearing into any governmental office should be made mandatory on the Constitution and not on any religious text.
Universe: Eeew… lol.
4:50 More candy as Christmas approaches? Sugar shock.
Huff Po – National Security. My God. Or maybe I should say my – um, unmentionable body part. It's projection, that's what it is. Republicans are afraid that "The Other" is going to do to them what they have done or want to do to "The Other" all the time. So they are all in "Gotta hit them back first" mode. Which, if it accomplished anything at all, makes their fears that much more likely. Self fulfilling prophecy. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream. NOt that any of the three would have any effect on their lizard brains. National security. Wasn't there a party once that named itself by truncating "national"? Hmmm.
Think Progress – Of course this is what it should look like. I am astonished the military is being so sensible. Of course it may not last. At one time the Navy was allowed beards based on "long standing Naval tradition," That was accurate, but it didn't last. I suspect the rock that such freedoms come to grief on is hostility from below. "I don't care what the Secretary of the Army says, you're in my platoon (or company or brigade or etc.) and you'll do what I say."
AlterNet – Of course this is how it should be. Did anyone on Facebook mention that anyone who said she should be arrested should themselves be arrested for subverting, or attempting to subvert, the Constitution? I didn't think so. Perhaps, ironically, it's Christians who should be refusing to swear, and insisting on affirming instead, to obey the words of Jesus (quoting from memory so it is probably a mish-mash of translations): "Swear not at all. Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no."
Universe – Aaaw, it's just a baby! Of course yours are bigger. You're a good mommy. (Both my experience and my reading tells me that males neutered early enough often get that big. All the growth hormone evidently goes into the bones and muscles, and they are not fat, just big. I knew one who was over 40 pounds once, but he was also more than 3 feet from nose tip to rear end, not even counting the tail. He could drink from the bathroom faucet while standing on the floor.)
AniMae – I know it's possible (I've been through many summer storms, though none like yours), but it's hard to grasp that at 39C hailstones would stay that big long enough to make it to the ground. Wonder how big they were when they formed.
I hope you caught up on your rest!
5:12
Are Harper's Harlots going to try too infiltrate thew US?
I agree. Subnariners have a long tgradition of wearing beards too.
They woulod have voted that atteding a mosque makes onde a terrorist. Horrid Notion!
Feed that cat some Chile!!
3:31 I kept slipping on the jaw breakers.
Solving this puzzle was not possible because the movement of the pieces could not be controled…peace