Get ready for the pre-debate brawl

It is now less than a month before the first Republican primary debate to be held in Cleveland on August 6th. Being selected to take part in the debate has suddenly become a very important measure of candidate viability and some serious kvetching has begun about the method of selecting who will be among the ‘elite’ (I use the word loosely) that will be invited to participate. Here’s a list of 17 declared or likely Republican candidates who have achieved some level of name-recognition, but there are about a dozen more that no one other than their families know are running.
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Facts about Cavaliers

BaxterAs regular readers know, Baxter the Wonder Dog is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The video below gives some facts about the breed. Although they originated in England in the 1600s, at the end of World War II, there were only six such dogs and all the current dogs are descendants from them.

One problem of having such a narrow population bottleneck is that any genetic problem in one or more of the original group would be propagated to large numbers of dogs. It is known that the breed suffers from a congenital mitral valve heart defect that makes their life spans shorter than for comparable small dogs. Reputable breeders, like the person from whom we got Baxter, are trying to get rid of that trait. We get him checked regularly and so far he does not show any symptoms so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

This video captures perfectly why they are so lovable and Baxter has all those qualities.
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Other people judge our likeness better than we do

We have all experienced the situation when we see a photograph of ourselves and are appalled. Surely we can’t look as bad as that? When we see ourselves in the mirror we think we look much better so conclude that the photograph must be introducing distortions or just happened to catch us at the wrong moment. Other people who look at the photograph rarely seem to share our opinion that it is not a good likeness but we can dismiss that by saying that of course they do not know us as well as we know ourselves.
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The incredibly rapid evolution on gay rights

The nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage by the US Supreme Court just over a week ago signals an extremely rapid transition in views indeed. However the struggle for the rights of the LGBT community has by no means ended. They still face all manner of discriminations. Yes, they can get married (even though some jurisdictions are still obstructing it) but they can still be legally not hired or fired from their jobs for being homosexual, they can be denied the right to rent a home, and so on. One would like to think that all those things would also move rapidly now that the big hurdle of marriage has been overcome but it may be that the dead-enders who dislike homosexuality may dig in their heels and even more vigorously oppose those moves to full equality.
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Another incredible limbo feat

I recently linked to a video of a woman who did the limbo under a car. Now comes along another incredible limbo feat. It is by a five-year old girl (I believe in India) so she is far smaller and naturally more supple than an adult. But what is incredible here is not just the height that she went under but also the distance she covered while doing so on roller skates. She also did it bending forwards rather than the more conventional backwards.
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Using RFRA to legalize marijuana use

We have seen how religious individuals and groups are using the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and state versions of it to try and avoid complying with laws that they feel infringe on their religious beliefs, such as issuing same-sex marriage licenses or providing contraceptive benefits in health insurance polices or selling various goods and services to the public.
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Eric Holder’s shameful legacy

Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone gives a blow-by-blow account of the way that Eric Holder saved the banks many billions of dollars and kept their top executives out of jail and now expects us to believe that the reason he chose to return to working at a high salary for the law firm Covington and Burling that represents some of those same banks is because of its pro bono work on behalf of the public! Yes, he really expects us to believe that he is driven by high-minded altruism.
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How Bernie Sanders gets things done

The buzz and the massive crowds surrounding Bernie Sanders’s run for president (the latest is 7,500 turning up in Maine) has taken jaded political observers by surprise and has them puzzled about exactly who Sanders is and what he stands for and why people seem so enthused about him. Some are suggesting that he may have already peaked and that after a good early showing, perhaps even winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, he will flame out. He has so far avoided getting dragged into the mudslinging and trivialization that is now routine in US politics and he says he would welcome the opportunity to debate anyone, anywhere on the issues.
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