The US government has so far not sent a single top executive of the big banks that caused the financial crisis to jail. They did not even threaten them with any prosecutions that might have resulted in jail time. A doctrine has grown up that these banks are ‘too big to fail’ and their executives are ‘too big to jail’, that trying to do so might result in worse outcomes than letting them get off scot-free.
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A meeting of the Omaha Public Schools board drew about 1,000 people and ended up in a screaming match that resulted in the meeting ending early. Why? It turned out that the school board was making some minor revisions to its existing sex education course (which is optional) by making it more gender inclusive and word had been spread that this new curriculum was being designed by the latest incarnation of evil, Planned Parenthood (which was a totally false rumor) and was going to be glorifying all manner of sex, and the abstinence-only crowd was up in arms.
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Another war atrocity has occurred, this time in the Syrian city of Idlib where it appears that a hospital has been bombed, killing at least twelve people. It appears that Russian forces now fighting on behalf of Syrian president Assad are behind this latest attack. Like in Kunduz, Afghanistan the medical director says that it looks like the hospital was directly targeted. This was apparently the third such attack on a hospital since the Russian intervention began.
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Bernie Sanders has been frequently compared to the actor Larry David so when Saturday Night Live did a parody of the Democratic debate, they got David to play him and he did an excellent job. Alec Baldwin also did well as Jim Webb.
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Now that the Rugby World Cup has reached the semi-final stage in England, there is increased interest and I have come across more articles dealing with the game. I stumbled upon one that should be a source of concern for rugby fans because it involves concussions.
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Whenever I attend a play by William Shakespeare or just read it, I have to confess that I only understand about 60%. This does not prevent me from enjoying the performance or getting the gist but the lack of complete understanding does leave me with the sense that I am enjoying it less that I might. Of course, I could take the trouble to study up the play before I attend but that seems like too much work.
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When Wisconsin governor Scott Walker dropped out of the Republican presidential race, he claimed that he was doing it for noble reasons and called for other candidates to follow his lead and also drop out for good of the party so that the party could coalesce around an anti-Trump candidate. Of course, this caused much laughter in the land since he and the rest of this bunch of clowns are only in it for themselves, with the party and the country way down on their list of priorities. So of course no one followed his lead. Now that he and Rick Perry are gone, that leaves 15 still formally in the running, though Jim Gilmore’s poll numbers are so low that he was not invited to even the second-tier debate last time so that leaves just 14.
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He was pretty good in stating his case for why he should be president. He was clear and articulate in stating his vision for what he wanted to achieve. He is a candidate that I could see myself voting for enthusiastically. His main weakness was that while mayor of Baltimore, he was swept up in the tough-on-crime, lock-up-everyone mentality that was prevalent at the time and which we now realize was far too harsh.
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The Democratic candidates have generally avoided attacking each other up this point. Even during the debate, they refrained from exploiting too much the media’s perceived weaknesses of each candidate. Not so on the Republican side where the infighting is getting quite nasty. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, after starting out professing their friendship and admiration for one another, have now started attacking each other. Donald Trump said some time ago that their friendship was a façade and that they really hated each other and it turns out that he was right.
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Nicholas Barclay was a 13-year old boy living in a small town outside San Antonio, Texas who suddenly disappeared in June 1994. Three years later, after having pretty much given up hope of ever seeing him again, the family gets a call from Spain saying that authorities have found him. His sister goes to Spain and brings him back where he begins his life again as a high school student.
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