The ugly entitlement culture of the affluent

The controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the US Supreme Court opened the curtain on the life of the children of the affluent and what it revealed was not pretty. It seemed like those who attended these expensive private prep schools grew up with a sense of entitlement that, in the case of the boys, extended to feeling entitled to force themselves on women. The fact that his prep school had its own nine-hole golf course on the campus should tell you all that you need to know about what kind of money the parents who send their children there must have and what kind of person graduates from it.
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Some noteworthy aspects of the Nobel prize winners in chemistry

The Nobel prizes in Chemistry were awarded last week for discoveries that enabled scientists to speed up the process of evolution and thus produce treatments for various diseases.

For thousands of years, humans have been selectively breeding crops and animals to tinker with the genetic makeup of their future generations in humankind’s favor. The three new laureates have used modern molecular-based methods to re-create this process in the laboratory and therefore speed the process up considerably.

“This year’s prize in chemistry rewards a revolution based on evolution. Our laureates have applied the principles of Darwin in test tubes and used this approach to develop new types of chemicals for the greatest benefit of humankind,” said Claes Gustafsson, chairman of the Nobel committee for chemistry 2018 and a professor at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden.
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The disappearance and forced exile of Saudi Arabian activists

As I have written several times before, the US media has fallen for the public relations campaign carried out by Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) who has assumed great power in that country and whose friendship with Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner seems to have bought him immunity from close scrutiny for the appalling and cruel war his country is waging in Yemen, a war that is being aided and abetted by the US and the United Arab Emirates. MBS’s charm offensive cunningly used the relaxation of some rules (allowing women some freedom to drive and allowing some cinemas to operate) that seemed designed to appeal to western sensibilities while retaining tight control on everything else.
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Why worry? We’re doomed anyway

It has become an article of faith among many conservatives in the US that fears of global warming are a hoax perpetrated on the world by a cabal of scientists who are using fake climate models and manufactured data in order to spread alarm and thus get money for grants or some such reason. The Trump administration seems to be fully invested in this belief. But then there was this curious news item about an environmental impact statement issued by the government that predicts that global warming will be even worse than some of the scenarios.
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Some good local news

To lift your spirits from the dreary news on the national and international scene, here is a bit of good news from my neck of the woods. Ohio is a pretty conservative, even reactionary state but I am lucky that the county I live in (Cuyahoga) has fairly progressive politics. An example of this is recent legislation passed by the County Council that provides protections against discrimination for the LGBT community, joining 20 Ohio municipalities that have passed similar legislation in Ohio, six of which are within Cuyahoga County already.
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For how long can you hide in a public men’s room?

As expected, women everywhere are challenging Republican congresspeople in public spaces. Senator David Perdue was being challenged by women at what looks like an airport and dove into a men’s room to escape. I wonder how long he stayed in there? Maybe he put on a disguise to escape?

Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell got the same treatment.

Extreme right wing German party wooing Jews

It is often said that politics make strange bedfellows. This happens when some common link or goal between two groups is strong enough to overcome other factors on which they diverge. But one occasionally comes across developments that are surprising even if one is accustomed to such unexpected alliances, such as this report that the extreme right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has announced that it wishes to be seen as a viable alternative for German Jewish citizens.
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Let us recognize and honor the women who confronted Flake

The two women survivors of sexual assault whose confrontation of Arizona senator Jeff Flake in an elevator as he was on his way to vote in favor of Brett Kavanaugh and forcing him to look and listen to them was broadcast live on TV, have been identified. New Yorkers Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher are telling their stories more fully, explaining why they felt compelled to go to Washington DC and do what they did.
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Why is Brett Kavanaugh scared of an FBI investigation?

One obvious answer is that he was lying when he denied Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations. But there are some things that puzzle me. One is the stark contradiction that was posed by the testimonies of Ford and Kavanaugh on Thursday. She came across as highly credible. She was so natural and her testimony so compelling that it clearly rattled Kavanuagh and his Republican supporters on the committee who decided to fight back furiously. Kavanaugh’s denials of the incident were angry and emphatic. Too angry, in fact. Although he may have been successful in temporarily raising the spirits of his supporters and causing them to rally round, serious questions have been raised about his lack of a judicial temperament. Various groups have expressed alarm and the American Bar Association that had earlier endorsed him called for an investigation and many members of the Yale law faculty and students have also expressed concern, with the students turning on the faculty for not warning them about predators in general. A Jesuit magazine that had earlier endorsed him and now called for Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn.
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Let us not forget Bill Cosby, the monster

In all the attention paid to the hearings on Brett Kavanaugh, let us not overlook an important news item from this week and that was that Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in state prison. The judge did not agree to have him out on bail pending the outcome of the inevitable appeal and he was immediately taken away to jail in handcuffs.

The statements of some of the many women whom he drugged and raped were tragic. In the particular case in which he was convicted, the charges were of drugging and sexually assault, and not rape.

Let’s hope that other abusive monsters like Harvey Weinstein who are also accused of all manner of sexual abuse also get convicted and sentenced to prison. The message has to be sent that powerful people will not get away with such acts in the future but will feel the full force of the law.