Stakes rise in Oregon standoff

The stakes are rising in the standoff in the Oregon wildlife refuge. Seemingly emboldened by the lack of response by the authorities, the militants have used heavy equipment belonging to the federal government to remove fences, no doubt to free the land from the tyranny of government, and even though such removal is against the wishes of the ranchers who actually live in the area. They are also using government computers in the offices to create websites promoting their cause. These are clearly violations of the law.
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School tries to punish off-campus student speech

Growing up in Sri Lanka, I went to a private school that had rules for how one should behave and what one could do even outside of school hours and off school property. For example, one could not go to see films on weekdays because one was supposed to be studying and not indulging in such frivolous behavior. My parents ignored this rule because I was doing well in school anyway.
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Four snippets of political humor

I: As Ed Pilkington reported after attending Donald Trump’s rallies, his main weapon is humor. Trump gets the crowd laughing before setting them afire with his incendiary statements. But comedy is hard and as any stand up comic on tour can attest, you have to keep generating new material to keep the fans coming.

And so it was with one Trump fan who complained that his rallies were becoming boring because his jokes were getting a little old. He said that Trump needed to create new material but was booted out of the rally for his helpful comments.

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The political and media establishment thinks the US owns the world

Yesterday two small US navy ships entered Iranian territorial waters. They were promptly intercepted by Iranian patrol boats and the soldiers detained pending an investigation by the Iranians as to whether it was a hostile attack or an accidental transgression. The Iranians assured the US that the sailors would be kept safe and the issue would be dealt with promptly. And sure enough, the sailors and boats were released following the Iranian determination that this was accidental. US Secretary of State John Kerry thanked the Iranians for the quick release and said that this kind of peaceful resolution was due to the diplomatic channels that had now been established because of the nuclear arms deal.
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Clinton worried that more people are ‘Feeling the Bern’

The hot news in presidential elections this week has been the rise in the polls of Bernie Sanders that has seriously challenged Hillary Clinton’s air of inevitability as the eventual Democratic nominee. Her past policy positions, some of which like her warmongering and pro-Wall Street and pro-oligarchy stances, are distasteful to the more activist and progressive members of the Democratic party. These people are rallying around Sanders and the movement has been such that even the pundit class, many of whom were ignoring the Democratic race because it seemed like she was a shoo-in, are now sitting up and taking notice.
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Have half a billion dollars to spare?

The Powerball lottery drawing later this week has an estimated jackpot of $1.4 billion, the largest in US history, easily beating the $656 million Mega Millions prize in 2012. Although I don’t buy lottery tickets, the size of the prize made me wonder about the odds involved and whether it might be worthwhile to pick every single number to guarantee winning.
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Cruz’s birther challenge gets more interesting

The issue about Ted Cruz’s eligibility to be president seems to be having much greater staying power than I had anticipated. Donald Trump has been making it an issue sufficiently strongly that Cruz has felt obliged to even release his mother’s birth certificate. For me at least, it initially seemed like a chance just to make fun of Republicans who find themselves hoist with their own petard, the tables turned on them after they raised such a big fuss over president Obama’s eligibility. But with Cruz, the issue has suddenly taken a rather more serious turn due to recent developments.
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