One of the self-driving cars being tested by Google was pulled over by a police officer for driving too slow, 25 mph in a 35 mph zone. I had not been aware that driving below the speed limit was a primary offense but apparently it is if you are causing a traffic backup behind you. Or maybe not, because the news report is a bit confused about whether it is an offense or not.
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The second Democratic debate yesterday, this time involving only Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin O’Malley, was once again spirited and substantive. Given that it occurred in the immediate aftermath of the horrendous events in Paris, it was not surprising that the first quarter or so was devoted to the whole issue of ISIS and terrorism. To their credit, none of the candidates used the occasion to indulge in excessive saber rattling or xenophobia against Muslims or call for the shutting down of moves to take in refugees fleeing the chaos in the Middle East. One can only shudder at what the Republican candidates would have said if it had been their debate last night. We would have seen a competition to see who could take the most extreme anti-Muslim position and they would have tied it to anti-Mexican immigrant bashing.
Anyone who has been to any art museum, especially those featuring traditional works, will know that they contain rampant full frontal nudity. This is a problem for the media in the US when they have to report on record-breaking auction sales of art works like Modigliani’s Reclining Nude because they have to deal with readers and viewers who are offended by the sight of naked humans even in paintings and sculptures. Should they show the work as is or cover up the naughty bits?
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Cricket fans will immediately recognize the name Sachin Tendulkar. Most of them would concede that he is one of the best cricketers of all time but among many Indians the admiration goes much further and he is venerated almost as a god, with even some Hindu temples being dedicated to him and some even referring to him as ‘god’.
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One of the features of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) was the Medicaid Expansion provision that enabled those people who were too poor to qualify for the tax subsidies of the main plan but not poor enough to qualify for the standard Medicaid to be able to get access to health care. However the US Supreme Court ruled that while Obamacare was constitutional, states could choose not to accept the Medicaid provision and many Republican controlled states refused to do so because of their ideological opposition to Obamacare, even though it was almost cost-free for them, since the federal government would pay the entire cost for the first few years and almost the entire cost subsequently. Thus the poor in their states were sacrificed because of the Republicans’ hatred for anything associated with Obamacare.
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Without fail, every year as Christmas approaches, something will happen that gets some people in a snit over some absurdly trivial matter. I always fear whether anything can top the previous year’s silliness and luckily, I am never disappointed. Larry Wilmore looks at this year’s big issue and that is the Starbucks cup controversy.
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We have seen in the current Republican presidential race that there seems to be nothing that can bring a candidate down once they have captured the allegiance of a significant portion of the party’s large and nutty base. Donald Trump and Ben Carson exemplify this. They can flat out lie, make the most idiotic and unrealistic policy proposals, exhibit xenophobia and race-baiting, and their poll numbers stay up month after month despite predictions from the pundits that this time, they have gone too far and their numbers will come down.
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Enough signatures have been obtained to put a single payer system on the ballot in the 2016 elections in Colorado. The measure would allow people to choose their own health care providers but the bills would be paid by a single, state-run entity. This is similar to the Medicare-for-all proposal of Bernie Sanders.
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There was one ugly incident during my recent holiday in Sri Lanka. We traveled around by two coaches and stayed at hotels. Naturally, when the 75 of us descended on a hotel all at once, the hotel receptionists were really busy trying to check everyone in as quickly as possible. I tended to wait in the lobby until the crowd dissipated before going to the counter but at one hotel, I saw one of our party who is not a close relative of mine and whom I did not know growing up in Sri Lanka (let’s call him K) gesticulating angrily at the receptionist for some time.
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He had a hilarious send up of the last debate.