Nice hike around the ponds yesterday. Snow on the mountain peaks, but shirtsleeve weather down here. Bixby has been making a ton of new friends and I’m really pleased how he lets kids hang off him and love him. Big ham loves it.
Looks like you need an open thread. Have at it.
Jasmine Bleach
Damm–that’s a beautiful photo!
Baud
I could get used to calming nature photos on the front page.
TaMara (BHF)
@Jasmine Bleach: Thanks, it’s from a couple of years ago. I rarely take a camera anymore when I have the Beast, he commands all my attention.
Mike J
Jack Womack @jwomack 5h5 hours ago
Republicans presently reenacting the split btw the (US) Whigs & the Know-Nothings in 1850s & DC pundits see the Dems in Disarray.
BruceFromOhio
So beautiful today. Enjoying it while it lasts.
@Mike J: After this week, seriously? How about “Republicans disemboweling” ?
redshirt
Yelling at clouds, who always seem to disappear at sunset.
Wag
The Fromt Range in the fall can’t be beat.
rikyrah
what a beautiful picture. The essence of Fall.
JPL
The picture is beautiful and it’s such a treat to see the beauty of nature. I spent the morning cleaning gutters and raking and blowing leaves. I wasn’t so thrilled with nature then. My large maple has lost most of it leaves but the neighbor has three bordering my driveway and they just now started to turn colors. That’s when the fun starts.
Zinsky
Ben Carson may not be the whizz-bang neurosurgeon that these conservative dipwads would have you believe he is:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/carson-sued-malpractice-times-surgeon-report-article-1.2388847
jeffreyw
I think I’ll queue up The Man in the High Castle, ep 2 on Amazon video. The first ep was pretty good but it was a while back, hope I remember how it went.
Davis X. Machina
@Zinsky: Would such revelations hurt him? Probably not. Consider where his voters are coming from. They’d just tell you that, when you consider he’s a black man, you’re amazed that he’s a brain surgeon at all. Those people lack certain necessities., you see.
Redshift
Here’s my best photo from the Hillary really in Alexandria on Friday.
TaMara (BHF)
@jeffreyw: Speaking of the Man in the High Castle, has anyone read Bring the Jubilee? Supposedly inspired PKD?
rikyrah
Can We Stop Pretending That Ben Carson Is Running for President?
As he quietly suspends his campaign to hawk books, one has to wonder: Is this guy serious?
BY: JASON JOHNSON
Posted: Oct. 22 2015 3:00 AM
There was a time when running for president was actually a money-losing venture.
In fact, over the last 30 or so years, most presidential candidates (including some who actually won) ended up with tremendous debts after the campaign. Being in the red during and after a campaign was so common that paying off a former opponent’s campaign debt was seen as a benevolent form of political stunting. (Thanks, Obama!) But all of that has changed since Citizens United in 2010. Thanks to super PACs and enforcement mechanisms flimsier than tissue paper, running for president can now become a ridiculous money grab if you’re willing to put in the time.
So can we please start to differentiate between those people running for president and those out to get a quick buck and some inflated speaking fees? And we can start with one of the most egregious perpetrators of this new political fraud: Ben Carson.
Very quietly, about two weeks ago, Carson actually suspended his campaign for president. I know that most people probably didn’t notice because they were reeling from a week of Carson lecturing on how to survive a volcano, high-fiving the Confederate flag and dropping dimes on wealthy Popeye’s chicken cashiers, but this did actually occur. There is some nuance to this; essentially, Carson just dropped a new book, A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties, and will go on tour to promote it. To avoid violating campaign-finance rules, Carson, ABC initially reported, was suspending his campaign activities until the next televised debate on CNBC Oct. 28.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2015/10/can_we_stop_pretending_that_ben_carson_is_running_for_president.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
Cervantes
@Redshift:
Thanks.
Glad you were able to, and did, attend.
Redshift
@TaMara (BHF): My library had it when I was a teenager, but I never got around to reading it.
Another Holocene Human
@Jasmine Bleach: Seconded. I think I might cry.
TaMara (BHF)
@Redshift: That’s great.
sharl
Source of this story is a Chuck Todd interview of Dr. Carson.
srv
That low-energy Senator Rubio, quitter, who can’t even show up for votes says:
Only Trump can re-energize this party.
JPL
Ben Carson on Meet The Press said he was against abortion, in all circumstances. I don’t need to know more about him.
He was privileged. As a black teenager, he was allowed to get help, rather than be thrown in juvie for his volatile behavior.
JPL
@sharl: Unfortunately, Chuck didn’t ask about science professors. Since Carson doesn’t believe in evolution, he might find that subject subversive.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
One of the unspoken themes of this Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton is that modern Republicans really are the ideological descendants of Thomas Jefferson, since Jefferson was a slave-owning aristocrat who claimed he was the true defender of the common man, unlike the actual common man who opposed him, Hamilton. No wonder all of the one-star reviews of the book whine about how Hamilton was evil for supporting a strong central government.
Also, as Brachiator pointed out, if you have Amazon Prime Music, you can stream the soundtrack of “Hamilton” for free.
shell
The full moon tonight is incredibly beautiful.. Huge.
ThresherK
@JPL: Maybe Carson has an opinion on alchemy professors.
SiubhanDuinne
@srv:
I don’t agree with your conclusion, but I definitely agree that Rubio is derelict in his duty to the voters of Florida — I would say, in breach of contract — to the extent he has ignored his responsibilities as a United States Senator. Although we know he won’t be running for re-election, I wish there were some kind of built-in penalty for elected officials who fail to show up to do their jobs.
dedc79
Giants were slightly less bad than the Cowboys. I’ll take it.
BruceFromOhio
I’m better than this. You’ll miss me when I’m gone. Yes. You will.
@shell: We were all out ogling earlier. It’s magnificent.
@SiubhanDuinne: Take away their health care benefits. That will definitely make them think twice.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Do you mean instead of health care and pension for life?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Thank you for a stunning photo.
redshirt
@shell:
And it’s even not full tonight!
Fun fact to know and share: The closer the Moon rises compared to sunset, the fuller it will be. Perfect full moon occurs precisely at sunset, for example.
Conversely, you’ll see the moon swiftly follow the setting sun when it’s barely a sliver.
ruemara
That is one seriously beautiful photo. I’m not saying cooking for batch of people for days is a bad thing, but I am not feeling like cooking tonight.
Mike in NC
@BruceFromOhio: So Rubio is refusing to cash his Senate paycheck, or give it to charity? Didn’t think so.
Another Holocene Human
@JPL: He wasn’t privileged in the general sense, especially not economically, but he may have been privileged in a sense of coming of age before the “War on Crime”, when the overwhelming attitude was that youth grow out of deviancy, especially given the chance to do better*.
Today? Try ’em as an adult.
*-note: of course, some youth do not grow out of deviancy at all, which on the other other hand doesn’t negate the fact that the vast majority do, somehow, grow out of it
Another Holocene Human
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Dunno about the historical accuracy (wouldn’t be qualified to comment) but this really is the revanchist right to a T. They hate a strong central government that holds them accountable and defends minorities.
ms_canadada
@shell: Yes, the moon is brilliant in the sky here in Hamilton, Ontario. Nature’s flashlight. Missing my late husband tonight. My therapist told me the first year is the most difficult, but the hole will remain forever.
Thankfully, I have my granddaughter, Emma Claire, who is now close to 3 months old, as well as a wonderful support group in my siblings. Still…
Another Holocene Human
@SiubhanDuinne:
Isn’t that the election? And term limits removes this, as it makes more sense to feather one’s bed as fast as possible in a term limit environment (while the lobbyists for big business pick the candidates). In an environment of long tenure, power only comes with long tenure, so getting reelected is actually important.
Satby
Beautiful photo Tamara! We’re past peak color here now, but the colors are still stunning. Going to suggest that the girls come look at the moon next. My Bahraini daughter hasn’t ever seen the stars so clearly as here, she’s a city kid. It’s been thrilling for her.
redshirt
@ms_canadada: Condolences.
I find a good trick to get out of your own head and heart is to focus on nature. See it. Hear it. Smell it. Feel it. Be it. You don’t have to always live in your own head – you can be “out there” if you choose.
Satby
@ms_canadada: Give yourself time… it gets better but we do agonists the ones who have gone before. Congratulations on your new granddaughter, she will continue to bring joy I’m sure.
trollhattan
On account of an 0-1-2 tournament record we dispensed with the final afternoon match, creating an opportunity to be useful. Not much of that happened but a perfect fall Sunday anyway (why waste that with mowing a lawn?).
Dadbrag: kid scored her team’s only two goals.
SiubhanDuinne
@ms_canadada:
Not sure I realised you live in Hamilton. My late aunt and uncle lived there for years — first on the McMaster campus (he was Mac’s first chair of the Music Department, back in 1959), and later in Waterdown. I have always loved the view down the hill from Clappison’s Corners.
I agree, the first year after a death is difficult. Every birthday, anniversary, holiday, special event, even — as you note — a nice full moon, brings its own sense of emptiness. Am so happy for you that Emma Claire is there for you; not, obviously, as a replacement, but as a supplement to the love in your heart. Hugs.
Satby
@Satby: can’t edit: That’s ” we do always miss the ones who have gone before”.
FYWP and Kindle.
Mandalay
@SiubhanDuinne:
I see no good solution for this problem. Florida law stops Rubio running for the presidency and the Senate concurrently (which is good), but OTOH that means he now has no incentive to care at all about his obligations as a Senator (which is bad).
Maybe the compromise is that Rubio should get replaced in the Senate, by someone chosen by the Governor, as soon as he announces he is running for president?
I don’t mean to defend Rubio – I loathe him – but it is farcical to expect anyone in the Senate to do their job properly if they are running for president. At least Florida will be kicking Rubio out of his current job. In Kentucky they are changing the rules to allow Rand Paul to hedge his bets.
trollhattan
@Zinsky:
Other five suits for leaving tiny plastic dinosaur-riding Jesus toys in skull.
“We shall get The Word out! Or is that getting the word in?”
trollhattan
@Davis X. Machina:
Wingnut: “Carson lawsuits proof we need tort reform.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Holocene Human:
Well, the election is not any kind of penalty in Rubio’s case, as he has already decided not to stand for re-election. So in that sense, since it was his choice NOT to run again for his Senate seat, there is no penalty. I’m saying I think there should be some kind of built-in, I dunno, financial penalty or something, for elected members of Congress who fail to show up and do their jobs unless they have a damned good excuse (e.g., Ted Kennedy in his final months).
Ruckus
@Zinsky:
I’m pretty sure most neurosurgeons have some malpractice suits. Huge amount of risk in most neurosurgery, sometimes things go sour when everything is done perfectly. Sponge counts, now that’s a different story. All that being said, Carson is a disgusting person, unfit to be elected to any office.
On another note I have a friend who just spend a couple weeks in intensive care and then some serious rehab because, as her regular physician stated, what the doc she was sent to did to put her in intensive care was just plain stupid and wrong. Her life was saved but will never be the same again. Docs are not god, no matter how some see themselves, and they do make mistakes. We wish they wouldn’t, we appreciate it a whole lot when they don’t, but they do. I constantly check what my docs tell me, all meds, all med schedules, etc. If there is an x-ray, etc. I ask to see it, for them to show me what they see. If they tell me I need something I discuss why/when/if/if not. I make them discuss my health, not their opinions.
ms_canadada
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you. Yes, it’s very beautiful in the Niagara Peninsula. I’m a Mac grad as is my youngest brother, my s.i.l., and now my youngest son is studying there. We live down by the re-gentrified Bay area, near James St.North. I thought moving here from Dundas would ease my pain. Suicide is definitely not painless, although my husband saw it as the only way out of his pain.
It is so hard, and clearly, I am at a low point at this time. My sister’s coming down from Ottawa, and I may return with her for a week or so. I have a brother (retired archaeologist) who lives there as well, and his husband is one of my favourites. Still…I miss my husband.
Tenar Darell
@BruceFromOhio: I dunno, maybe if we actually disemvowelled them instead they’d start making sense? /couldn’t help myself
feebog
@Mandalay:
Don’t see Rubio’s absence as a negative. One less Republican AHole to muck things up. Too bad about a dozen more of his ilk choose to run, Dems would have the majority again.
Germy Shoemangler
I have a song stuck in my head lately. “Lullaby of the Leaves”
PurpleGirl
TaMara — Thanks for the new thread. The photo is beautiful. It’s good to hear that Bixby is a friendly dog and likes children. Large dogs can be so scary to many people, when really they are marshmallow inside.
patrick II
I was sitting on a bench along the Virginia Beach boardwalk earlier this evening. The boardwalk is about three miles long and lined with large hotels. It was a beautiful evening and I was people watching. Anyhow, along comes a coyote loping down the beach, he pauses for just a second to check me out, and then continued heading south. He was quite beautiful, but he seemed so out of place, I have no idea how he could get there.
currants
Oh, Tamara–what’s that tree in the right foreground? I saw one like it recently (I think)–thought it was a mimosa tree (like ones I’d seen in south New Jersey when I was a kid), but maybe not. And maybe not in CO, either….
Debbie
i’m sitting here, struggling through the flu, miserable not to be out leaf peeping and then this photo pops up. I feel better already. Thanks!
mclaren
@Mike J:
One thing we can say for certain: this is good news for John McCain.
BruceFromOhio
@Tenar Darell: Thn thy wld mk vn ls sns thn thy d nw.
And that’s presenting Y as a consonant. Imagine if Y was a vowel all of the time.
SiubhanDuinne
@ms_canadada:
How awful for your husband to have been faced with — or to believe he was faced with — only two painful alternatives, suicide or not-suicide. I am just more sorry than I have words to express.
I love the Niagara Escarpment, and I also happen to think Ottawa is one of the loveliest national capital cities anywhere in the world. You might enjoy hanging out there for a few days with your sister. Should be gorgeous right now.
Not sure when i’ll be coming through, or near, Hamilton next, but i’ll send out a signal via Anne Laurie or Betty Cracker or TaMara in hopes we may be able to arrange a BJ meet-up à la Canadienne.
rikyrah
Media Alert:
OWN: LEGENDS AT THE APOLLO is on right now on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
It will repeat at 12 am EST
mclaren
@Another Holocene Human:
So why didn’t that work for the Bush family?
ThresherK
@feebog: To paraphrase the bon mot about Cal Coolidge,
“Did you hear that Marco Rubio stopped Senatoring?”
“How can you tell?”
I, too, am not discerning a big difference between him giving it his all and not giving a crap.
Mandalay
@feebog:
Well maybe not in that specific case, but a general principle still applies: if a Senator wants to run for president then state issues will inevitably take a back seat while they are campaigning, and that’s not a good thing.
At least Rubio has a chance of becoming president in 2016. Meanwhile Lindsey Graham is at zero percent in the polls while he campaigns and continues to pull a paycheck from the Senate. There’s something rotten and fundamentally wrong about that.
At least the Democratic no-hopers aren’t feeding off the taxpayer’s teat.
gogol's wife
@Debbie:
I was hoping to go for some leaf walks with my husband and then I fell down some stairs and sprained my ankle. Now I’m not sure I even want to go for a drive to look at leaves. And it’s a fantastic year here in New England — one of the best I can remember.
We’re still cracking up from the snippet of Broken Arrow we just saw on TCM. James Stewart says to the beautiful Apache maiden Debra Paget, “I’ve been away almost a moon.” Priceless.
Germy Shoemangler
@ThresherK:
To paraphrase the bon mot about Cal Coolidge,
“Did you hear that Marco Rubio stopped Senatoring?”
“How can you tell?”
from LOL GOP, re the Benghazi hearings:
BL
Rubio is not voting because a vote could be used against him by somebody in some attack ad.
“He voted to keep the government open”- make the RWNJ unhappy. “He voted to close the government” – make the business community unhappy. “He voted for the defense budget even though it doesn’t include whatever crazy thing the RWNJ want.” “He didn’t vote for the defense budget because he doesn’t care about the vets.”
I don’t see that there is any advantage to him to vote. If he avoids almost all of it, then he can use the excuse of the campaign.
NotMax
Six people neglected to show at our weekly dinner/gathering last night, so ended up taking enough leftovers home to last me the week. Good thing I like my own cooking. :)
Cornbread tamale pie – 2 types: 1 made with ground bison and a red salsa-based sauce, the other with ground pork and a green salsa-based sauce. Creamy mac and cheese – rotini boiled in diluted lager then baked with a light creamy cheese sauce (Irish cheddar and gruyere); sauce prepared with milk, half-and-half, evaporated milk, spices and Guinness stout.
Although even with only 10 people, they manged to put away more than 2 pounds of the three pounds of pasta prepared. Had everyone been there, would have run short. :)
Betty Cracker
I made enchiladas tonight with a new (to me) recipe from Bon Appétit. It was labor intensive but GOOD!
Germy Shoemangler
@BL: If he accomplishes so little as a senator, imagine how little he could accomplish as president!
Betty Cracker
@NotMax: That all sounds good; the mac ‘n cheese sounds especially intriguing!
Peale
@BL: yeah, but his “I’m tired of the senate and their procedures” should be followed by, “yeah, procedures…that’s the ticket”.
SiubhanDuinne
@BL:
I am sure you’re correct, but what a chickenshit excuse for not doing his damn job. And btw, I have also said, and will continue to say, this about any Democratic officials who decide to run for higher (or another) office and use that run to excuse their dereliction of current duty. Just because you’re a short-timer doesn’t give you carte blanche to slack off.
NotMax
Repeating for a different blog time slot –
TCM re-showing Baby Peggy, the Elephant in the Room at midnight. One-hour look back at and interview with film’s first female child megastar, whose career is now largely unknown.
ms_canadada
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you. I’ve got a spare room, if you don’t mind sharing my home with a beagle hound and blind/diabetic silky terrier. A bj meet up would be fun. Watching the Nature of Things about the magnetic North Pole. It helps me to put our time on this earth in perspective. We’re dancing on this earth for a short time.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mandalay:
If any politician holding office runs for reelection or a higher office, the same principle holds.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Preparation was a variation (no bacon, more roux, some additional spices, etc.) of classic Black and Tan Mac & Cheese. Rotini is ideal, IMHO, as it is sturdy and has enough ridges to hold up to and hold onto the sauce.
lamh36
Watching Witches of Eastwick on Logo TV. Been a while since I’ve seen this movie.
Weirdest thing bout watching Witches of Eastwick as adult…Jack Nicholson was supposed to be a sexy devil..blah…
Betty Cracker
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s a good point. A good solution would be much shorter campaign seasons.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker:
Agreed.
Steeplejack (phone)
@NotMax:
Followed by one of her movies, The Family Secret (1924), and then, inexplicably, Andrei Tarkovsky’s epic Andrei Rublev (1969) at 2:15 EDT.
raven
We are watching El tiempo entre costuras (The Time In Between} about a Spanish dressmaker in Morocco pre-WW2. Good stuff.
Huskydoc
@Zinsky: I detest Carson with a white hot heat. But any neurosurgeon who’s been practicing for a long time is going to have a few lawsuits.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Shorter campaigns would also cut down on the amount of money to run a campaign. Might just dilute the power of the uber wealthy.
sharl
Just listening to DC radio fixture Ed Walker’s final show, pre-recorded from a hospital bed. He had to hang it up after getting bad health news, and in fact his voice sounds weaker than usual on this show.
I’ve been listening to this guy for what seems forever; closest thing I have to “appointment radio”. Gonna miss him. He’s had one hell of a good run though, and hopefully he’ll beat the cancer.
trollhattan
@raven:
You’d think by now they’d have worked that meme to death but noooooooo!
SiubhanDuinne
@ms_canadada:
Oh, I wasn’t fishing for an invitation to spend the night, but that’s very nice of you and I’ll bear it in mind. Thanks! And of course I don’t mind beagles/terriers or any other four-legged creature! I had thought about possibly driving up this fall (cousins live in Owen Sound) but don’t want to deal with too much winter weather, so it may be spring before I venture north of the 49th parallel. Will let you know.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Ruckus: How do you plan to reduce the length of campaigns?
Steeplejack (phone)
@trollhattan:
Inorite? LOL.
ms_canadada
@SiubhanDuinne: I have an open door-open; open arms policy. I was in California (San Fran then LA for all of Jan.) Returned to one of the most hellish of winters in Feb. Spring/Fall are the best times to come here. (Although my daughter, who lives in LA, owns 100 acres near Bancroft, ON, which is quite comfortable in the summer. We usually spend a couple of weeks up there off the grid…peace & tranquility; loons and wolves.) You are welcome anytime We’re 40 minutes to Niagara Falls & 40 minutes to Toronto. Just have to love dogs.
catclub
I thought this was pretty insightful. Lots of references to Obama. The point about at least assuming that the other side
in a democracy is not intentionally trying to destroy the world, is important. (If you lose that, you will no longer be willing to participate in a democracy.)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_10/marilynne_robinson_goes_agains058293.php
J R in WV
@shell:
Shell, the moon isn’t technically full until the 27th… but it sure is pretty!
And will look full for several days…
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
Things suck, so he’s going to give up rather than trying to fix them. Conservatism in a nutshell.
catclub
@Germy Shoemangler:
It is interesting how little coverage the results aspect of GOP wins versus Democrat wins is getting. [This relates to Jeb Bush saying he has lots of things he could be doing and does not want to be a do-nothing president with gridlock. I do not see that happening.]
If GOP wins, huge reversals of LOTS of things. Because that is almost guaranteed to only happen with a sweep of both houses.
If a Democrat wins, legislative holding pattern for at least 2 and likely four years, with the exception of Supreme Court Justices
(and that is no sure thing, that GOP would allow ANY SC appointments through.) So asking how Clinton will get anything done, facing at least a recalcitrant House, still barely comes up.
This means that the holding pattern will likely be from jan 2011 until at least jan 2021. Motivating voters to keep that up will be hard.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
Thank you! Perfect answer.
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Well we could do it like Canada or some other civilized countries do and legalize a start date for campaigning. Say 60-90 days before the election. Not that we could get it through any congress that we are likely to have in the next twenty years but it is a thought. We could also restrict who and what could pour how much money into a campaign but that seems even less likely in the near future. A boy can dream can’t he?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Ruckus: What do you mean by legalize a start date? What behavior are you deeming to be illegal prior to that date? Pretty much any meaningful answer you could give to that would run afoul not only of congressional deadlock, but serious First Amendment concerns.
Ruckus
@catclub:
Well of course it will be difficult for any democratic president to get anything done with a dysfunctional legislative branch, but even getting nothing done would be preferable to wanton destruction. Besides we have our current president as an example that it is not totally hopeless.
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Please, the first amendment is not entirely sacrosanct, there are limitations and restrictions in many ways, inciting a riot for one example. Discussing government secrets for another.
And why do you think I put in that we could not get any such thing passed with the situation we now have in congress? Did you think that I was wishing upon a star or something? Of course we couldn’t get any such thing passed now. Hell we can’t even get that corporations are not people but a government construct that was devised in part to separate people from legal liability when the corporation fucked up. Separating them made the corporation less than people by making the people less responsible. And now we find out that corporations have been people all along. Which is fine if when a corporation killed someone or even another corporation we could give them the death penalty. It’s only fair that if they are people they get treated the same way, taxes, liability, penalties, etc. Try that one on and see how hard it would be get passed.
redshirt
I’d like to see the Dems come out in favor of legalized (and heavily taxed) recreational weed. Let the Repubs fight against that.
redshirt
Also, lake life might be the best.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Ruckus: I notice that you didn’t bother to answer my question. Most of your response was completely irrelevant to anything I said. Again, what behaviors would you make illegal prior to your start date?
Citing that there are some exceptions to total free speech in no way makes an argument that what you are proposing would be found by the courts to be a valid exception to it. My guess is that most of what you would like to implement in answer to the above question would be found to violate it not just by the conservative wing of the Court, but by all nine justices.
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Dude, get a life.
It was a suggestion of something that works in other countries. But having an official length of time to run for an office could be worked out in a sane democracy, which we don’t have at this time and maybe have never had. I’m not a lawyer, nor a politician but I can see that our current system is broken. Conservatives are running about 15 too many people, people who shouldn’t be allowed outside without supervision, who would be horrible as leaders of any country. I’m willing to listen to or suggest any idea which may help to bring sanity to the process. Do I expect all or any of them to work here? Unlikely. But do you have any better suggestions? Mine may be unworkable, may be silly, may even never be tried but I’m making suggestions, all I’ve heard so far from you is negative, that nothing will work. How is that helping? Maybe you could think of something else or suggest how this might work if it was tweaked or even completely changed. We need ideas, because the crazy is still out there and it is getting worse. You can’t imagine any of the justices siding with a law that makes elections fairer, or less costly? This doesn’t restrict someone from having an opinion, just gives them a time limit to express it as a candidate. It cuts back on the time and energy that the MSM can spend on their horse race bullshit but It doesn’t stop them from writing stupid shit like they almost always do. That couldn’t be sold as a better way to have a representative democracy? To make the people running to be our representatives and run our government actually only have enough time to explain how they plan to do that rather than snipe at each other and bullshit us, we can’t sell that? Why, just because that’s the way it’s always been done?
We’ve had access to guns in this country for ever but the real problems started with the advent of handheld auto/semi automatic weapons that aren’t useful for hunting nor home defense. It’s past time to restrict these types of weapons away from the public and the police. Can we do that, given our current system? Most probably not. Should that stop us from trying? Most certainly not. And yet many would say that the Constitution allows any kind of weapons and that enough of the supreme court will strike down any laws restricting guns so we shouldn’t do this. I find that type of thinking to be counterproductive. You don’t make positive change by being negative. You have to keep trying to make positive changes, even when you lose. That’s how you win in the end, you keep coming back with better ideas and sell them to the majority.
Aleta
@ms_canadada:
Funny to hear someone say Bancroft. My grandmother’s family were from Niagara Falls and nearby. My grandparents and father and then we kids went into Algonquin every summer. Still have an old log cabin near there. (Sometimes I still go to that bakery in Bancroft where they make the butter tarts and great rolls.)