Displaying 391 To 420 Of 13,190 Comments Morning Blog 6th Anniverary Edition Good night/morning, Kalima! As usual I’m sliding in at the last moment with my MB comments, but this was too good a collection to let go unnoticed! Great news that the crime rate in Japan is at its lowest in the country’s post-war history. (Especially knowing that you’re over there in Tokyo.) Interestingly, the prevalence of security cameras is given credit for a lot of that decline. I caught a bit of the debate in Parliament over whether or not to ban Donald Trump from Great Britain. I don’t think I’ve ever heard one man called so many negative names by so many different people in so short a time. People on both ends of the political spectrum seem to hate him equally. Welcome to the club, Parliament! Speaking of the club — that was truly a fascinating article on the infamous Bullingdon Club for wealthy young trouble-makers! George Osborne, Boris Johnson and David Cameron have all been members in their youth. An excellent training ground for sociopaths, it would appear. So sad to read that elderly patients in England would actually rather remain in hospital than face the overwhelming financial challenges of care at home or in a nursing home. Hospitals are hardly comfortable places to be, so making that choice is truly a sign of desperation. But the possibility of bankruptcy has to be equally terrifying. What an awful situation for those allegedly “golden” years in Great Britain. A long but interesting article on the current concerns about political correctness in America. Friends who teach at universities here say that there does seem to be a greater sense of fragility among students when it comes to hearing unsettling ideas. But the most pernicious violation of free speech on college campuses that I’m aware of is the purchase of entire departments by the Koch brothers. In exchange for a very large donation to — say — a university economics department, they reserve for themselves the right to appoint faculty and set the curriculum. Now THAT is politically incorrect! Putin — not only has he been disrespectful of our President, it appears as of today that he is also a murderer. I’m extremely grateful that our President never drank tea from a pot supplied by Vladimir. Shocking revelation. Such a tragic story about those poor kids in South Sudan. More than half of them aren’t in school. Instead they’re child soldiers on both sides of the civil war there. How can they end up as anything other than traumatized and uneducated adults? Which will only lead to further misery. Why can’t adults fight their own battles? Sigh… Now — the trivia question. Well, I wish I had a brilliant answer for this one. But — unfortunately — I have no idea what ice cream is orchid-flavored. Since I like almost any form of ice cream, I suspect I might like this one too. If I only knew what it was! 😆 » Posted By kesmarn On January 21, 2016 @ 7:56 pm I’m with Nirek, Kalima. Take all the time you need — and don’t forget to sleep! » Posted By kesmarn On January 14, 2016 @ 3:17 pm China really needs to pull the plug on this pudgy narcissistic monster. I seem to recall Bill Clinton warning the earlier regime in N. Korea that the day before they decided to try anything in the way of launching a nuclear attack would be the “best and last day of North Korean history.” (I’m paraphrasing here, but this is close.) The clear implication was that he wouldn’t hesitate to blow them off the map. And he was hardly a war-mongering sort of President! It’s good to see that Japan, the US and S. Korea are united on this issue. » Posted By kesmarn On January 7, 2016 @ 7:54 pm These are hilarious, Kalima! The bird doing the Michael Jackson tribute is my favorite. And I do hope that Allen and his prairie dog pal eventually found each other… 😆 Happy New Year! » Posted By kesmarn On January 4, 2016 @ 11:40 am Hahaha! Kalima, I’m not entirely sure what happened to my graphic — which was a Christmas tree with “Happy Holidays” underneath. Or at least that’s how it started out! Now it seems to read “Critical Section,” but that works when it comes to the hackers and spammers, so I suppose it’s just as well to leave it there and give them something to look at. 😆 » Posted By kesmarn On December 27, 2015 @ 6:51 pm And a very Merry Christmas to you and yours, Kalima! And to all the Planeteers who contribute to the merriment. (Hackers and spammers: nothing but coal in your stockings!) [img]http://www.w-uh.com/images/1112/Merry_Christmas.jpg[/img] » Posted By kesmarn On December 24, 2015 @ 7:56 am Good night/morning, Kalima! Tuesday evening here in corn country and I’m just finished with another great edition of MB. Late as usual, but I enjoyed this terrific selection of articles as always. It’s good to read that one of the people who took advantage of the earthquake (as well as the financial collapse) relief funding in Japan is getting his just due at last. Such a good thing when swindlers have to pay back. Now if only the Goldman Sachs culprits here would get the same treatment. One of these days… Also an article with a very rational look at child poverty in Japan. Isn’t it a shame that an appeal to help children has to be made on the grounds of economic self interest for the country — rather than humanitarian concerns? Oh well, whatever works… And it is true that feeding and educating poor kids is going to save the country money in the long run — as well as increase tax revenue. Now if the GOP would just figure that one out… And if Cameron and Osbourne would as well. A sad story about the increase in pauper’s funerals in the UK. There was a stunning statistic in that article: there are actually more cases of tuberculosis in Great Britain among the poor than there are in Rwanda and Iraq! Incredible! The New Yorker article on American attitudes was another good one. Basically reinforcing what the President said about this being a country in which mass shootings occur at a rate that is “unparalleled” anywhere in the world. What a sad way to be in the lead. It’s truly a sickness here. It looks as though Poland has its own kind of sickness too, though. Middle Eastern refugees are being beaten there now? I can hardly imagine how it must feel to flee violence in one country only to be on the receiving end of it in another. Dubya really lit the fuse on a powder keg and we’ll be seeing the consequences of that for a long time to come — in a lot of different countries. While he enjoys a safe old age in Texas. 👿 And it looks as though Dubya’s buddy Vlad Putin hasn’t learned anything from his pal’s bad example either. Despite the facts of history regarding Russia in Afghanistan, Vlad feels obliged to step into the mess in the Middle East and use his heavy-handed methods to “fix” things. Between the Russian passenger airliner and the Russian warplane that have been brought down over the last few weeks, he seems to be getting a speed-cram course in what following in Dubya’s footsteps leads to. Meanwhile in the recently liberated areas of Iraq, the Yazidis are wary of the Peshmergas and the Kurds are wary of both and none of the above trust the Arabs. Once again — a large and sarcastic thank you to Dubya. Before his “adventure” those people had lived in relatively peaceful proximity to each other for a long time. One of the elements of my dear old dad’s mental status changes (due to his age — 93) is that he has forgotten the entire Dubya administration. He seems to think that we went right from Clinton to Obama. If only that had been the case. I wish the whole world could forget Dubya’s two terms! (Maybe Santa could work something out there.) And I hope you can have a nice rest now after turning out another fine MB edition! » Posted By kesmarn On December 8, 2015 @ 7:09 pm Rest up, Kalima! And in the mean time, I can keep on making up possibilities for the “Guess the Gadget” part of the last MB. So far I’ve invented a house phone that two people can talk into from opposite sides at the same time. And a “Kitty Call to Dinner” machine that blasts meows from two tiny speakers. » Posted By kesmarn On December 3, 2015 @ 2:34 pm You are too kind, Kalima! I’m not sure about the “bolts” part, but I do know that I definitely qualify when it comes to being “nuts.” I have a very ample supply of knives here as well, so we and the rest of the Planeteers can tear into that cake whenever you’re ready to celebrate! (And then throw a few of our excess items of cutlery in the direction of Donald Trump for entertainment afterward.) » Posted By kesmarn On November 20, 2015 @ 5:01 pm HAPPY 6TH ANNIVERSARY, KALIMA AND MORNING BLOG!!! And many, many thanks for the hours of hard work that you put into bringing us all the news of the day — all around the world. It’s so easy — especially for Americans — to tune out, or to pay attention only to the news that affects their own country. Morning Blog has always given us the broader view and shown us how world events are all so inter-connected. Wishing you all the best today, with the hope that there will be many, many more years of MB to be enjoyed with our morning coffee, tea or stronger beverage of choice! Have a great Tokyo day! [img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4DebsI-72LM/TIaUJcyKnPI/AAAAAAAAABw/Cd1KCC2pOM8/s1600/cake2.jpg[/img] » Posted By kesmarn On November 20, 2015 @ 6:47 am Weekend Music Thread – Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
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» Posted By kesmarn On November 14, 2015 @ 10:25 am Top 3 Favorite TV Shows of GOP Candidates Too funny, AdLib! Can I play along for a little while? Jeb! — Family Feud, Twilight Zone Bobby Jindal — Get Smart, Bill Nye the Science Guy Carly Fiorina — Designing Women, iCarly Rand Paul — Trailer Park Boys, Dukes of Hazzard Chris Christie — Jersey Shore, Jackass Donald Trump — Pride and Prejudice, Extreme Makeover Mike Huckabee — PeeWee’s Playhouse, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Ben Carson — Doogie Howser, MD, Just Shoot Me Marco Rubio — Orange is the New Black George Pataki — Lost in Space Thanks for another great evaluation of the Confederacy of Dunces! Otherwise known as the current crop of GOP candidates. As Hillary said to Rachel on Friday. “I can think of Republicans I could run with… but none of those guys!“ » Posted By kesmarn On November 9, 2015 @ 8:25 pm Ben Carson Announces His First 3 Acts if Elected President Try as I might to give your post 5 stars, AdLib, only 4 would show up. I suspect this might be a technical “submarine” from the Carson campaign staff. (Have you heard his latest quotable comment? In which he referred to verbal attack “submarines” from his opponents in the Mannatech scandal?) I had to laugh out loud at the “baristas doing liposuction” suggestion. I’d sooner take a chance on that than risk surgery with Dr. Ben (The-Pyramids-Were-Built-By-Joseph-To-Store-Grain) Carson at this point. I know only one person who’s an ardent Ben Carson supporter. She lives in Tennessee and has a daughter who’s gay. When I mentioned that her candidate would probably de-legitimize her own daughter’s marriage to another woman if he had the chance, she said: “Well, yes, that is a problem. But he’s such a good Christian that I have to vote for him.” Sigh… When the choice is between one’s own daughter or one’s homophobic “Uncle,” well… a bigot’s gotta do what a bigot’s gotta do. I agree with KT on the perfect photo selection too. How’d you like that to be the last image you see just before the anesthesia takes effect….? :-O » Posted By kesmarn On November 4, 2015 @ 8:42 pm What Makes A Republican a “Winner” in a Debate? Hatin’! Oh, does that sound familiar, Homie! Their numbers are legion around here too! » Posted By kesmarn On October 30, 2015 @ 7:19 pm Many thanks for the kind words, Monica! <3 » Posted By kesmarn On October 30, 2015 @ 7:17 pm “The Hate Debate” definitely sums up the most recent GOP debacle. Thanks so much for this assessment, AdLib. It takes a step back from all the noise (and there was plenty, including commercials) to have a look at what was really going on. I’ve always thought that if you go even a millimeter beneath the surface of hate, what you find underneath is fear. Craven, shaking, cookie-tossing and sweating fear. The most ardently GOP couple I know of is gripped by this kind of fear. (I’m beginning to believe it truly is hard-wired into the brains of RW extremists.) Even though they’re wealthy, they’re afraid that their financial future is in serious jeopardy. They’re afraid of losing the money they have now. They’re afraid of all brown people (don’t they always take your money?) They’re so afraid of everyone that they own several guns. Which then makes them very afraid that someone is going to come and take their guns away. They’re afraid of Muslims, because they watch FOX “News” — religiously. They’re afraid of dying, because — shouldn’t all that money give them a pass on that inevitable rendezvous with the Grim Reaper? (It’s not fair!) They’re afraid of young people. (“Because they’re all ‘wild’ and ‘have no respect.'”) They’re afraid of poor old people, because their SS and Medicare are “stealing our money.” They’re afraid of going to their imaginary hell, so they buy Get Out of Hell Free cards from the local fundie church. (Those allow them to be as mean and homophobic as they want and still enter the pearly gates.) They’re afraid of Bernie Sanders because — Socialism. And of gay people because — different. The biggest voting problem they face is — as you said so eloquently here — picking the candidate who channels their fears most effectively into anger. At this point, who is their Hater of Choice? Ben Carson, of course. Because nothing masks hate and fear better than a Xanax face and a soft spoken verbal assault on reason and decency. » Posted By kesmarn On October 30, 2015 @ 8:27 am Friday Comedy Singalong: “I’m Proud to Be A Democrat” Love it, AdLib! Can I add one more verse? Yes I’m proud to be a Democrat, cause we know how to debate. Stick to issues. Skip the words of hate. Don’t belittle or berate. And it’s time to stand up to the MSM. Tell O’Reilly where to go. Let the Teabillies and the GOP have their own reality show! » Posted By kesmarn On October 16, 2015 @ 4:00 pm No matter what kind of glorious Paradise is promised to the next potential Speaker of the House, it’s not going to be easy to talk anyone into putting that suicide vest on and wielding the Big Boehner gavel. I wonder if Boehner’s enjoying a little schadenfreude schnapps in the country club bar right about now…? As the news analysts said this evening — “We’ve never seen anything like this in our lifetimes…” If I’m not mistaken, though, someone here on the Planet predicted a civil war within the GOP a looooog time ago. Possibly the crystal ball reader who wrote this post…? » Posted By kesmarn On October 8, 2015 @ 4:47 pm Ben Carson Proves “Dr.” Doesn’t Equal “Smart” I can only speculate as to whether Ben Carson practiced doing lobotomies on himself, AdLib. (Nurse joke alert.) Even for a doctor, he’s just incredibly dumb. There’s really no other word for it. I wonder if Kai Ryssdal would have gotten any further in that interview if he’d said something like: “Look, Ben. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling is like announcing to the world that you’ve run up a considerable amount of credit card debt and you’ve decided that you’re simply not going to pay it. Is that what you want the US to be telling the world?” Even at that, I doubt that Carson would get it. He actually doesn’t even want to get it. Because getting it would mean that he’d have to come up with something that remotely resembles a solution. Did you hear the latest from Ben on how to handle gun violence? He was in an interview in which he recounted an incident years ago when he was in a Popeye’s chicken restaurant that was held up. He said the robber put a gun in his ribs, and he responded by mildly saying: “I believe the person you want is there behind the counter.” What? He didn’t throw the gunman down to the ground — as he’s been advising everyone else to do? No. He did the really admirable, Carsonish thing. He threw the counter man under the bus. Saints preserve us from “heroes” like this. » Posted By kesmarn On October 8, 2015 @ 3:37 pm Republicans Light the Fuse to Blow Up the U.S. Economy…and Themselves Thanks for a terrific assessment of the current situation, AdLib. The GOP — in it’s present state of madness — seems to be longing for a pyrrhic victory. Under the misapprehension that — hey — it’s still a victory! I watched video today of Jim Jordan trying to bully Cecile Richards during the Planned Parenthood hearings (or maybe they should be called “I-can’t-hearings” since Jordan refused to allow Richards to speak one full sentence without an interruption). It was clear that he was grandstanding for the Baggers and going for aggressive sound bites to use in his next campaign ads. But I wonder if he really knew how he was coming across to most of America. Most of America really likes Planned Parenthood! But he and his Freedom Caucus cohorts live in such an echo chamber that they actually seem to be unaware of that fact. So he ended up just looking like an ill-mannered rube. They also seem to think that once they succeed in blowing up the government completely, Americans will actually thank them for it! I think (and hope) that you’re right when you say that they’re on their way to becoming a permanent minority party. I just hope we can all survive what they inflict on the country between now and then! » Posted By kesmarn On September 30, 2015 @ 6:39 pm Wow…! That is an eye-opening video, VB! Thanks for posting. » Posted By kesmarn On September 30, 2015 @ 6:17 pm Thanks so much, PPO, for giving us the picture of what goes on in Oz. As usual — it’s a much, much saner picture than what prevails here. Your last sentence really nails it, though. I have personally known Republicans for whom that was the exact scenario. They ended up making that “choice” (that they were so eager to deny other women) when it came right down to it! » Posted By kesmarn On September 30, 2015 @ 6:11 pm A terrific article, Homie! I didn’t get a chance to read it until this evening. Which turned out to be a good thing, because I read it after I’d heard Pope Francis’ speech to the Joint Session of Congress. I think Taoist you and Catholic Francis are very much of the same mind on this issue. Over and over today he emphasized the notions of mercy and rehabilitation in the way we think about the imprisoned. Private prisons are neither merciful, nor are they places that prepare people to be released into the world again as productive citizens. In fact — as you mentioned — their profits depend upon people not being released at all! They are just as sick and warped in their way as this Martin Shkreli person (the guy who bought the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the essential AIDS med and then jacked up the price 5000% on day one) is in his. He depends on peoples’ life-threatening illnesses to maintain his obscene profits, and they depend on an steady influx of helpless prisoners to maintain theirs. Making fortunes off the misery of others. Appalling. There are times when Big Government — complete with all its regulations — is exactly what the doctor ordered. And this is one of them. Private for profit prisons need to go away — yesterday! » Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2015 @ 4:46 pm The Planned Parenthood Videos: GOP Legislation Based On Major Misrepresentation Your last sentence sums it up perfectly. » Posted By kesmarn On September 23, 2015 @ 4:48 pm Murph, this is a very nicely done piece of investigative journalism. It’s very time-consuming to dig into this complex material and sort it all out, but you’ve done just that. I don’t doubt that you discovered along the way that David Daleiden (of the “Center for Medical Progress” — even the name is a lie) and James O’Keefe (who dressed up in that absurd pimp outfit to do ambush interviews with ACORN staff members to try to destroy that organization) are BFFs! Fancy that! Two lying Breitbart-type saboteurs who know each other intimately. If the GOP were capable of shame, I’d say they ought to be ashamed. But we both know better. » Posted By kesmarn On September 21, 2015 @ 6:39 pm Trump Proposes Maximum Wage for Employees AdLib, I know you’ve said it before: the GOP is getting to be more and more difficult to parody, because real life always catches up and today’s parody becomes tomorrow’s headline. Well, you’ve done it again. American wages are now so low that the Chinese are outsourcing their textile manufacturing to South Carolina! http://qz.com/470358/chinese-textile-manufacturers-found-a-cheap-new-place-for-outsourcing-the-us/ [img]file:///home/chronos/u-3e5b3acd1273d52c472e85b7ad415ddd4834367b/Downloads/US%20jobs%20from%20Chinese-owned%20companies.mhtml[/img] » Posted By kesmarn On September 9, 2015 @ 7:18 pm Wonderful and witty, Homie! Kim Davis and her supporters seem to view her as a latter day Joan of Arc. (They might want to check out how that story ended.) But I think your comparison is a lot more accurate. Given the attention span of the American public, don’t you have to wonder how appealing that jail cell is going to be in two or three weeks, when everyone’s attention has been drawn back to The Donald once again? » Posted By kesmarn On September 6, 2015 @ 6:52 amComments Posted By kesmarn
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