Hurricane Katrina and dog rescue

In a previous post where I discussed the strong bond that dog owners have with their pets and the joy of reuniting with them, I recalled the case during Hurricane Katrina when one young man refused to be evacuated unless his dog was rescued too. It was only when a person working for Oprah Winfrey’s network promised that he would take care of the dog and that they would be reunited later that he agreed to go. Their reunion later was something to see.
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Setback for same-sex marriage

Yesterday the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down its verdict on the six same-sex marriage cases from the four states in its jurisdiction (Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, and Tennessee). District judges had in each case ruled that the bans on such marriages in each of those states was unconstitutional and the three-judge panel looked at all the cases together. The panel ruled 2-1 to reverse the lower courts and uphold the bans, meaning that same-sex marriages cannot proceed in these four states. The majority opinion is, frankly, appalling. I do not say this simply because I disagree with the conclusion but for reasons that I give below.
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The real winners in the election

Whoever the candidates and parties are, in US elections there is always one certain winner.

(This clip aired on November 4, 2014. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. If the videos autoplay, please see here for a diagnosis and possible solutions.)

This is why we cannot have nice things

The deterioration and degradation of America continues apace. Maintaining the things that provide for good public services and infrastructure takes money but increasing personal income taxes to pay for such services has now become seen as an unconscionable imposition. Some states have resorted to raising taxes to pay for specific functions, perhaps hoping that this close link between taxes and expenditure will appease people who think that their tax money is being wasted.
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In praise of whistleblowers

Back in 1981, the US Justice Department did an inquiry into possible criminal activities of the National Security Agency, which in those long-before-Snowden days was a little known agency. Veteran investigative reporter James Bamford, now writing for The Intercept, got from a whistleblower one of the only two copies of the report and describes how he had to fend off all attempts by them to prevent him from publishing it. They failed, partly because at that time the Justice Department was not as subservient to the national security state as it has since become.
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What happens when Atlas Shrugged meets Lord of the Flies

Suppose you are the head of a big corporation that consists of a large number of retail stores all over the country aimed at the middle classes. You also happen to be a devotee of Ayn Rand, so much so that you can rattle off by memory huge chunks of her oeuvre, no mean feat considering her awful writing. Hedge Fund manager Eddie Lampert was one such person and when he became CEO of the merged corporation of Sears and Kmart, he put Rand’s ideas into practice.
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Why minority voters wait in lines

When I voted yesterday in the precinct where I have voted for the last 20 years, it was very quick as usual. I have never had to wait in line to get my ballot or to use a voting booth even in those presidential elections where there is a high turnout. The longest delay involves the person checking off the voting rolls having difficulty with the alphabet and locating my name.
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