Reflections on the Republican debate

So I did my civic duty and watched the first debate of the Republican primaries last night. There were really no surprises. Almost all the speakers responded to each question with a brief general statement vaguely related to the question before using it to segue quickly to a recitation of prepared talking points touting their records, such as they are, on issues that may or may not have had anything to do with the question. There were the expected denunciations of president Obama, Hillary Clinton, Planned Parenthood, abortions, Obamacare, and the Iran deal, and calls for strengthening the military, building walls to keep out undocumented immigrants, and waging vigorous war against terrorism and in the Middle East.
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The negative influence of limited-over cricket on Test matches

There is a big difference in the way that Test cricket is played compared to the limited over game. Test matches are time-limited (five days of play with six hours per day) with no guarantee of a result, while the limited-overs format (50 overs per inning for one-day games and 20 per inning for the roughly three-hour Twenty20 format) are designed to guarantee a result.
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The war on women and why we need to stand with Planned Parenthood

The recent release of heavily edited videos purportedly showing officials of Planned Parenthood selling tissue from aborted fetuses tried to make out that they were engaging in a surreptitious, illegal, profit-making activity when in fact they were only doing what the law allows, and that is to recover the costs incurred in supplying tissue for medical research. Heather Digby Parton explains how the outfit that produced the videos was working closely with some Republican members of Congress to produce this coordinated attack.
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The curious love affair that ordinary Americans have with the wealthy

One of the enduring mysteries of American politics is why so many people are so supportive and admiring of wealthy people who in return have nothing but contempt for them and do everything they can to enrich themselves at their expense. Many people of ordinary means seem to think that F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong and that the rich are like you and me.
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Once again, Jon Stewart takes Fox News to the woodshed

Howard Kurtz on his show on Fox News once again brings up the idea that by going to the White House twice, Jon Stewart has proved that he is a stooge for president Obama. Kurtz should have known better because there is nothing that seems to get Stewart’s energy up than taking Fox News hypocrisy and flinging it back in their faces and he has a grand old time here, showing Kurtz how a takedown should be done and in the process revealing Kurtz’s own hackery.
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Stupid Republican tricks

KerryIs it only me or is anyone else embarrassed by the antics of the various Republican candidates in their willingness to do things that make them look ridiculous? Have they learned nothing from the past of John Kerry dressed in a weird-looking biohazard suit and crawling through a tube, looking for all the world like one of the sperm in the Woody Allen film Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask?
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Behold the magic stone!

The origins story of the Mormon church, like all religion origins stories, is a real riot. Founder Joseph Smith claimed to have been led by the Angel Moroni to gold plates buried in a field containing strange writing that he called ‘reformed Egyptian’ but was able to interpret and translate into English by peering into a hat and using a magic stone that he called a ‘seer stone’. This document became what is called the Book of Mormon, their bible.
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