It is late and I cannot sleep because of the heat and humidity, currently at 88%. To make matters worse, my one neighbour has been in and out slamming the door each time, as well as running up and down her stairs with lead feet. This is not the first time for her antics. I have been awakened by her before. Temperatures on Friday and into the weekend are supposed to hit 33 C (92 F) — oh joy! NOT! — with high humidity. Tomorrow I have physio and then I will relax in the heat if I can.
Short Takes
CBC — Mauril Bélanger, the long-serving Liberal member of Parliament for Ottawa-Vanier, has died at age 61. Bélanger was diagnosed wIt is late and I cannot sleep because of the heatith ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, following the 2015 federal election, and his condition had deteriorated rapidly.
Mauril Bélanger 15/06/1955 – 16/08/2016
Honourary Speaker of the House
At the moment when Bélanger should have been celebrating his eighth electoral triumph as the member of Parliament for Ottawa-Vanier, he had struggled to find his voice to make a victory speech.
And yet even in his final days, Bélanger summoned his remaining strength eight months later to attend a vote in the House of Commons where his colleagues backed his private member's bill to make the lyrics of the national anthem more representative of all Canadians.
That vote on 15 June 2016, Bélanger's 61st birthday, resulted in the approval of Bill C – 210 which changed the second line to "in all of us command " from "in all thy sons command". And as sick as he was, he came into the House to vote. In the video above, if you are trying to listen to the words, the first two lines are in English, with some subsequent lines in French. I know the French version and can tell you it does not translate directly to the English version.
I brought to you short takes about Mauril Bélanger back on 30/01 and 12/03/2016. This is an incredible legacy for Mauril Bélanger who championed this change for years.
RobertReich.org — It looks increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton, a self-described “progressive who likes to get things done,” will have her chance starting next January. But how much that’s progressive will she actually be able to get done?
The Senate may flip to the Democrats but there’s almost no way Democrats will get the sixty votes they need to stop Republicans from filibustering everything she says she wants to do.
She’s unlikely to have a typical presidential honeymoon because she won’t be riding a wave of hope and enthusiasm that typically accompanies a new president into office. She’s already more distrusted by the public than any major candidate in recent history. On Election Day many Americans will be choosing which candidate they loathe the least. …
Even if Hillary sincerely intends to raise taxes on rich Americans in order to pay for universal child care, affordable higher education, and infrastructure spending, the moneyed interests have the clout to stop her.
They’ll also resist any effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour, require employers to offer paid family leave, or push them to share their profits with employees.
The heart of American politics is now a vicious cycle in which big money has enough political influence to get laws and regulations that make big money even bigger, and prevent laws and rules that threaten its wealth and power.
Before Hillary can accomplish anything important, that vicious cycle has to be reversed. But how? …
The pragmatist in her must know that the only way her ideas will make it in real life is if the public is organized and mobilized behind them.
Which means that once she enters the Oval Office, she’ll need the countervailing power of a progressive movement – ironically, much like the one her primary opponent championed.
I read an article recently that stated that the Green Party needs to build its base substantially in order to be viable. Recently, TC commented (probably not for the first time) that any third party needs to start building on 15 November of an election year. Bernie has miraculously built a substantial base, one that challenged Clinton during the primaries. He launched a political revolution and has committed to moving forward with it. Part of that commitment means holding Clinton's feet to the fire. Personally, I think Bernie has a better chance of revolutionising the Democratic Party than the Greens have of becoming viable.
Raw Story — Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) revived and justified Republican criticisms against Khizr Khan on Tuesday, telling CNN host Jake Tapper that the Democratic Party “used him” irresponsibly during their party convention last month.
“Because he had a son that he lost to terror, that gives him a free ride to say what he would like against a candidate that he’s not for?” Perry asked Tapper. “That’s not proper, that’s not correct.”
Lost a son to terror?? Capt Khan was killed in Iraq during a war started by George W Bush and his cronies over oil but under the guise of weapons of mass destruction. How is that terror? And since when can one not comment on a political candidate who is in a race to run the nation (in the case of Drumpf, to 'ruin the nation')? That is a prime time to gather facts, form opinions etc. And of course, the first amendment — freedom of speech — also applies to Mr Khan. I also take exception to Perry claiming he is for service families because he writes the letters. But hey, did he lose a son as did Mr Khan? Little Ricky Oops! Perry is milking this for his own glory.
Youtube — This one is strictly to make you smile.
My Universe — This is a truly magnificent sight! My understanding is that these kayakers were near a nursing humpback and her calf. The breaching was likely done by the rest of the pod to protect the mother and babe. The location is near Campbell River BC, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, little more than half way up the Island. More over, this is a well known playground for various types of whales.
And now a little humour . . .
8 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 16/08/2016”
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CBC: Rest in Peace, Mauril Bélanger. You served your Country well.
RS: He's a pawn for the GOP, he's all BS…imho. ugh!!
YT/John Oliver: Love Rebecca's and Andy's analogy to API. LOL.
My Universe: Now this is how whales should be viewed, from a lens. How beautiful!!!
2nd one: Adorable!!
Sorry to read about your neighbor, and the humidity. Still raining here, we are in flash flood alert. Not so much as the folks in LA are going through though. Prayers to those folks. Busy day, and I'm out the door, for an intro class for volunteering/subbing. Hope you get some respite from your weather. Take care, and Thanks, Lynn.
Hope things cool off for you. How many people have AC up in your area? I have friends from residency days in Wisconsin, and they say a good deal of folks don't have AC.
Universe
Did that somersaulting racoon leave a dump? There’s something down the hall where he first started that looks suspicious to me.
That cat w/ the monkey is the most patient critter I’ve ever seen.
The spinning squirrel actually made me dizzy.
Agree on the raccoon – unless raccoons throw up YUGE hairballs. Also agree on the monkey and the cat, although the owl that was being buzzed ran the cat a close second.
It is amazing how you folks on the coast can keep seeing such punishing heat, yet her, farther inland (albeit at a much higher altitude) it is already starting to cool down. I guess our "monsoon season" is starting. Maybe your neighbor is as frustrated by the heat as you are, Lynn, and is taking it out on the door and the stairs..
CBC – What a guy. A true hero. May he rest in peace.
ReichOnTheLeft – Of course he is right that she is widely distrusted. And yet, if she is a crook, she is the SMARTEST gosh darned crook who ever walked the face of the earth. All that money, all those seasoned attack dogs/witch hunters who went after her, all done with Republican majorities in the House and mostly in the Senate, amd all they can come up with is "Humph. Well, I don't believe a word she says." Yet the same people who distrust her without evidence, and in spite of evidence to the contrary, are willing to trust, some of them Donald Trump, some of them Jill Stein. In 2008, when she lost the nomination to Obama, I privately said to a few close friends that it appeared to me we had just learned what group is the real n-word in politics. And from what I see today, perhaps I was correct.
Raw Story – Oh, come on, Lynn, you know better than that by now. Freeom of speech is only for while male Republicans. Anyone else is just stepping over the line. Truth or falsehood is irrelevant. White male Republicans can say whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want to say it. Anyone else – just shut up.
YouTube – As always, John's take and presntation are hysterically funny. API, though, is not.
Universe – Did someone say you otter get some ice cream?
I sure hear you on the heaqt and humidity we share.
Kudos to the new gender neutral Canada.
I fully agree. What I actually said was that we need to start working to make the electoral changes requiredx to make third parties viable, and even that's a long shot.
How is that terror? It's Al dubya.
Beautiful!
Cats are funniest!
Sorry to hear your neighbor has suffered some kind of weird heatstroke that makes her run amok, Sasquatch, especially when your own nerves are frayed a bit by the heat. I hope for everyone's sake the heat and humidity will lessen soon.
CBC: Sorry to hear about the demise of Mauril Bélanger; this well respected politician will be missed dearly by family, friends, colleagues on both side of the isle and many Canadians alike.
Robert Reich: Reich spot-on, but not really saying anything that hasn't already been said on PP from the start of the primaries. It's already a small miracle that in all likelihood another Democrat takes the helm after two terms of a Democratic president (is this a first?), so it's clear that Republicans really have messed up this time, but it's indeed virtually impossible to get the 60 senate votes needed to get anything done. So all will depend on a strong and progressive backing, and Hillary Clinton seems very aware of that. I don't think progressives need to fear that Hillary's pragmatism will make her lean over to the Republicans to get them to go along. By the time she gets to the Oval Office, the GOP will consist of TPers only, and they've demonstrated to Obama that they wouldn't go along with any proposal he made, no matter how reasonable and acceptable it was for the right-wing, like Scalia's successor. So Hillary know's that only a strong progressive and organized public backing will help her get anything done and if she's able to keep Bernie on her side, she should be able to manage that.
RS: Isn't it sad how these Republican hasbeens use every opportunity to get themselves back into a spotlight, no matter how dim and questionable that light is and no matter how disgusting and utterly ridiculous their "message" is? It was Perry making up history to get his convoluted reasoning across on CNN (Faux News lite); that should tell us enough.
YouTube: John Oliver, so funny and spot-on, API not so much.
My universe: Humpbacks breaching, tail waving and pectoral fin flipping is the most beautiful sight and I hope to see a lot of it again when we go whale watching in Hervey Bay, QLD, coming Sunday. Their playfulness and the intelligence in their eyes as the look up at you when the swim underneath the boat when the motor is cut, is a sight that stays with you for the rest of your life.
RS: Yes, the Gopigs can say whatever they want, and proclaim it to be truth. I just began Rachel amddow's book, "Drift," in which she writes about St. Reagan's belief that whatever he said, was, by that fact alone, a lasting immutable truth, reminding me of his claim that "Fact are just annoyances." Given how the GOPigs genuflect whenever they hear HIS name, I would guess that HE was the architect of their idiocy. Oh, by th way, the dick of that polar bear, it's Perry!
RR.org: Hillary will, almost certainly, have an uphill battle in regard to any progressive issue,yes. It would be wonderful to see Bernie continue building.
Mrs. Humpback: Give me some damn space, will you!
John Oliver: wonderful!
CBC: What a sorrow for Canada.
Shit, you'd think I could spell check my own stuff, huh!