Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some vegetarian recipes, if you are so inclined, from The New York Times.  :)

http://cooking.nytimes.com/68861692-nyt-cooking/445045-wells-vegetarian-thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The election

So, evidently (despite what President-elect Trump charged, during the campaign), the election wasn't rigged against him after all.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Ad for Sec. Clinton, redux

I felt like posting--again--this nice ad for Secretary Clinton, featuring the singing of Katy Perry.  It began airing this past Saturday.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_vOjwXMw7s

A tweet, last night, from the reliably distasteful Ann Coulter

From The Washington Post

"On the eve of Election Day, conservative commentator Ann Coulter suggested that if only people with four U.S.-born grandparents voted, Donald Trump would win by 'a 50-state landslide.' "

The story notes that if Coulter's standard were applied, Donald Trump, whom she supports, would be unable to vote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016/live-updates/general-election/real-time-updates-on-the-2016-election-voting-and-race-results/ann-coulters-grandparent-argument-would-exclude-trump-from-voting/

"Today, let’s hope Trump’s lies, xenophobia and misogyny seal his doom"

Opinion, and analysis, from The Washington Post's Greg Sargent:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/11/08/today-lets-hope-trumps-lies-xenophobia-and-misogyny-seal-his-doom/

Monday, November 7, 2016

"Anti-Semitism is no longer an undertone of Trump’s campaign. It’s the melody."

An op-ed essay by Dana Milbank, of The Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/anti-semitism-is-no-longer-an-undertone-of-trumps-campaign-its-the-melody/2016/11/07/b1ad6e22-a50a-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html

Trump invents a story

This story--which I had heard about, and then read about on esquire.com--says such a great deal about Donald Trump.

President Obama, at a Friday campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, reprimanded members of the audience. They were booing a pro-Trump protester, an older man who was in the audience, and the President objected to the booing--repeatedly, and sharply.  He defended the protester. Mr. Obama said: "First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech. Second of all, it looks like maybe he might've served in our military and we gotta respect that. Third of all, he was elderly and we gotta respect our elders." 

Later, at a campaign rally, Trump claimed the President was "screaming at this protester," which the President of course had not done at all. Trump's complete distortion of what actually took place is deeply reprehensible, and troubling--though it is not particularly surprising.

Here is more about the story, from NBC News:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-election-day/fact-check-trump-claims-obama-scolded-protester-video-shows-otherwise-n678351

New York Times editorial: "Imagining America on Nov. 9"

 From The Times, online, November 5th:

"The United States has seen worse than Donald Trump. It has endured political crises and corruption, war abroad and bloodshed at home. But that doesn’t make it any easier to contemplate the catastrophe that looms if we wake up Wednesday morning to President-elect Trump.

"There’s no sense complaining anymore. The hurricane is three days from landfall. The urgent thing now is to avert the worst, minimize the damage, save the foundations, clear the mess.

"Averting the worst starts with electing Hillary Clinton."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/opinion/sunday/imagining-america-on-nov-9.html

Sunday, November 6, 2016

A quote

I have a book, The Wisdom of China and India, edited by Lin Yutang (Modern Library, 1942). There is a quote in the book that I like, from Confucius. It is this: "To know what you know and know what you don't know is the characteristic of one who knows."

I cannot resist applying these words to that which our country is focusing upon so deeply, at the moment. There is one candidate running for the presidency who appears, in a profound way, to not have an appreciation of--to not have an understanding of--that which he does not know.

The FBI, and its decision

"Emails Warrant No New Action Against Hillary Clinton, F.B.I. Director Says"

More from Bill Weld, about Secretary Clinton

Additional comments, in defense of Secretary Clinton, from Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Bill Weld, in a Sunday morning interview on Jake Tapper's program "State of the Union":

From the CNN article, below:  "(Weld) called Trump 'totally unfit to be president' and said Clinton was 'a perfectly reputable, professional, responsible candidate for president of the United States and deserves to be treated as such.' "

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/06/politics/bill-weld-state-of-the-union-gary-johnson/index.html

(The interview was conducted prior to Sunday's notification to Congress, by FBI Director James Comey, which brought to a close the Clinton e-mail matter.)

Clinton television ad, now airing

A nice ad for Secretary Clinton, which is now airing in 11 states. It features the singing of Katy Perry.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hillaryclinton/comments/5b9gcd/new_clinton_camp_tv_ad_roar/

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Artist Barry Blitt, The New Yorker

I love this recent (Oct. 31st) cover illustration by Barry Blitt, titled "Significant Others."

(Click on the image, to enlarge.)

From The Washington Post: "Fox News apologizes for falsely reporting that Clinton faces indictment"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/fox-news-apologizes-for-falsely-reporting-that-clinton-faces-indictment/2016/11/04/8fd56f20-a2b7-11e6-8d63-3e0a660f1f04_story.html

Here is another story about the Fox report, from CNN: 

http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/03/media/baseless-fox-news-indictment-report/index.html

Retail politics

I was leaving the supermarket yesterday, and met one of the candidates for Sheriff, in my county; he gave me one of his brochures. I will more than likely be voting for his opponent--but I love the fact that the candidate was there, meeting people, seeking votes. (I think he was the first candidate I've met, this season.) Retail politics: it is, indeed, a resilient and great American tradition.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Bill Weld: criticism for Trump, and praise for Clinton

Bill Weld, the former Massachusetts Governor, and the 2016 Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate, made some striking remarks this week, on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC program. He not only criticized Donald Trump, sharply--but offered praise for Hillary Clinton.

From the USA Today story, below: Weld "said he believes Trump is 'psychologically' unstable, a bully and incapable of 'competently managing the office of the presidency.'

"For Clinton, on the other hand," the story continued, "he had nothing but kind words. This was a clear break with his running mate, Gary Johnson, who has attacked both candidates."

The USA Today story noted: "Weld said he believes Johnson would make a good president and he supports the Libertarian platform, but 'having said that, I'm not taking back anything I said about the massive difference between the two establishment party candidates. One would be chaos for the country I think and the other would be a very business-like and capable and competent approach to our affairs.' "

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/11/02/weld-maddow-interview/93154336/

Here is the transcript from Mr. Weld's interview with Rachel Maddow, via a piece in The Washington Post.  The headline in The Post reads:  "Libertarian Party VP nominee Bill Weld basically just endorsed Hillary Clinton."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/02/libertarian-party-vp-nominee-bill-weld-basically-just-endorsed-hillary-clinton/

New York Times editorial: "Donald Trump’s Impeachment Threat"

An important piece, from the editorial board of The Times, about Donald Trump, and other Republicans:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/opinion/donald-trumps-impeachment-threat.html