The world of religion is agog over the extensive interview given by pope Francis to various news outlets. In the interview, he did not announce any changes in policy on the core social issues of ordaining women, celibate clergy, abortion, and contraception, but he definitely signaled that he wants to see a change in focus of the church, away from these divisive issues, saying: [Read more…]
It was little more than a week ago that the US seemed on the verge of bombing Syria, an action that threatened to spread to Iran and thus open yet another front in the perpetual war against Muslim countries. This was something that was hoped for by the neoconservatives, the liberal war hawks, Israel and its US lobby, and al Qaeda and other terrorist groups that thrive on instability and chaos. [Read more…]
I have not watched the TV sensation that is now just two episodes away from the conclusion of its five-season run and that seems to have people completely hooked. But despite that, I did read the breathless coverage of last Sunday’s episode (it was impossible to avoid) that seemed to have been quite violent. As a result, I have (I think) a pretty good idea of the story line. [Read more…]
We have been steadily observing over time the encroachment of the civil liberties and the violation of constitutional protections by the government, using fear-mongering about terrorism in order to get people to acquiesce. The government seizes any excuse to make inroads into our due process rights, often stampeding people at times of crisis, and terrorism is the best excuse they have. [Read more…]
The Colbert Report
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(This clip aired on September 16, 2013. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
Neetzan Zimmerman has unearthed a video in which apparently you can hear the people taking part in professional wrestling talking to each other and giving and responding to cues. [Read more…]
Yesterday I wrote about the big yellow board that had been placed in front of the university library to let people write their views on a possible war with Syria. The board only went up yesterday and so there were not that many comments. On my way to the library today, I checked on the board to find that it had been almost completely filled up with written comments. Tomorrow is the last day it will be there. [Read more…]
Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel sent his crew out to interview people who attended the Fashion Week activities in New York. The crew threw out names of people who were NOT designers and asked the attendees what they thought of their creations. The people reacted as if they were familiar with the names and their designs and the show played those clips. [Read more…]
The children of Sam Walton, founder of the Walmart empire, are among the richest people in the world. Walmart is notorious for paying its workers poorly and treating them badly. As this article from Bloomberg shows, they use every trick in the book to prevent paying taxes so that they keep as much of their money as possible. What seems like generous gifts to charity are in fact tax dodges. [Read more…]
It looks like Edward Snowden is settling in to life in Russia, learning the language and the culture. He may well decide to stay on there if the Russian government lets him. Although he apparently travels freely and is unrecognized by people, he is living incognito at a secret location with security, presumably just in case the US government gets an insane idea to kidnap or even kill him. They are less likely to do that in Russia than in some smaller country like Venezuela or Ecuador because the US government, like all bullies, only picks on people that cannot fight back. [Read more…]