October 19, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baltimore-riots-freddie-gray-death-6-months-mom-toya-graham-follow-up/

Baltimore mom who pulled son from riots still can't find peace
CBS NEWS
October 19, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Baltimore mom: To see my son at riots with rock in hand, "I just lost it"
Play VIDEO -- Baltimore mom: "I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray"


Monday marks six months since Freddie Gray died after being placed under arrest by Baltimore police. In the following days, riots erupted around the city.

Among the most iconic moments during the unrest was when mother Toya Graham tore her son off the streets. Graham was hailed a hero, but today, she still can't find peace, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues.

"Just this morning, I broke down. And you know, I -- it's just, it's hard. It's hard," Graham said.

Graham said she's struggling to keep her home. Even though money is tight, she's trying to remain optimistic for her children.

"I know a lot of mothers out here understand where I'm coming from," she said.

"We're struggling," Graham said. "We're struggling, we're just trying to make sure we keep food on our table for our children, keep them out harm's way, keep them out of danger."

That is her greatest challenge. Last May, the single mother of six was caught on camera repeatedly slapping her 16-year-old son Michael. He was dressed in black, with his face covered and had joined the rioters.

Graham was celebrated for doing the right thing and appeared on "CBS This Morning."

"Do you feel like a hero mom?" Pegues asked her.

"I don't feel like a hero mom -- I never did," Graham said. "You know, I never did. He's my son. And so, if I have to be out there to stop him from doing things that he shouldn't be doing, then that's what I'm gonna do."

She's like a lot mothers and fathers in the embattled city. Six months after the riots, Baltimore is still reeling.

Freddie Gray: Baltimore reacts

Anthony Batts, the police commissioner during the riots, has been fired. The mayor who fired him has announced that she will not seek another term as a wave of violence grips the city.

So far in 2015 there have been 267 homicides -- more than a 50-percent spike over last year at the same time. In addition, the number of people injured due to gun violence is nearly 80 percent higher.

"When the sun goes down, do you feel safe out here on the streets at night?" Pegues asked Michael, Graham's son.

"No, because it's dangerous out here at night, you gotta keep looking out your surroundings to see if someone's going to harm you," he said.

Michael admitted he's scared.

"I lost two of my friends. He was gunned down in the store on Liberty Heights and Garrison," he said.

You never know what's going to happen next, Michael said.

"You might wake up one day, or you might not wake up one day," he said.

Michael's mother now holds him even closer than she did before.

"He's a good boy," Graham said. "I'm 43 years old, and I know there's nothing out there but harm. But as a 16-year-old, he wants to be outside."

She understands that desire, she said.

"But I'm going to protect him," Graham added.

"I just don't feel like a hero. This is a real struggle," she said. "When the cameras is gone, the reality of life is still there. It's still there."




“Group think” is one of the two or three most basic things in our instinctive toolbox. Above it come the desire for food and water and the sex drive. From those things we have constructed the family, the community, and individual special relationships – best friends. I put that one in there because only “best friends” can be relied upon for personal loyalty. “The gang,” is a relationship that is based on competition, and can turn against any member who mistakenly thinks for himself or befriends an outsider without seeking permission from the group.

As you can tell, I don’t think much of the gang. From it come scapegoating, general misbehavior and local or national warfare. This boy, Graham’s son, was “following the leader” into a violent action. She used corporal punishment in front of a camera and won both friends and foes in the effort to keep her son from breaking the law and committing which to me is a sin – violent group action. We need good, logical and controlled democratic action in this country rather than riotous behavior. We need another Martin Luther King. There is no leader in this movement. Maybe someone will come out of the Black Lives Matter group, who can put the matter before civil governments and really get their attention as King did in the 1960s, while maintaining a peaceful format. The problem with the police stems from our current laws covering what policemen actually do and whether they will be outfitted like an army with supplies fresh from the Pentagon. There have never been enough good and effective laws regulating what police forces are allowed to do. Police have been given carte blanche on how they “maintain law and order.” As soon as that Republican mantra came in under Nixon I knew we were in for trouble as a society.

Things were never perfect, of course, neither in the South nor anywhere in this country, and things like racial hatred can only be overcome within the human heart, and a lot of white people nowadays want to improve the situation. I do it by making friends with black people if they are friendly and open to that, and by being as fair as I can be otherwise. When anyone confronts me either passively or aggressively, I may do something in return. That is partly by instinct and partly by design. I don’t want to start a bad precedent. A young black woman outside my apartment building asked me for a quarter as I passed by her, and I said I didn’t have it. She yelled out, “I said a quarter!” I turned around and went into the building where I reported what she was doing to the management. She was quickly run off from the front of the building and told to cease and desist. People who live here are banned from bringing grocery store carts full of possessions into the building or panhandling. I never saw her out there again or met anyone else trying to confront people. This is a managed rent situation, but it isn’t Section 8 housing. It is HUD, Jacksonville Housing Authority, and it is well-managed and clean. That’s what we need in a civilized society.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-palestinian-john-kerry-urges-clarity-temple-mount-al-aqsa/

Kerry urges "clarity" from Israel amid killings
CBS NEWS
October 19, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Video: Gunman opens fire at Israeli bus station
Play VIDEO -- Israelis kill 3 Palestinians in alleged stabbing attacks
38 Photographs -- http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/new-tide-of-israeli-palestinian-violence/
Play VIDEO -- Violence in Israel leads to troop deployment


JERUSALEM -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to head to the Middle East this week in an effort to stem what he called on Monday the "senseless" violence between Israelis and Palestinians which has sent tensions soaring and claimed 50 lives during the last month alone.

CBS News' Jonathan Vigliotti said security was tight Monday at the main bus station in Jerusalem, with security forces implementing "stop and frisk" measures following the latest attack the previous evening by a gun and knife wielding man who killed an Israeli soldier and wounded 10 other people.

The question is whether any of the bolstered security tactics can prevent scenes like the Sunday night attack at the main bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba from playing out around Israel.

Surveillance video shows people running for cover at the heavily guarded bus station in the normally peaceful Israeli city. Officials said the Arab gunman shot and killed the Israeli soldier and wounded the others before being shot and killed himself by security forces.

Other amateur video shows what was initially thought to be a second attacker, but turned out to be an Eritrean migrant mistakenly shot by Israeli security forces. The man is seen being pinned to the ground with a metal stool as bystanders kick him. The man later died in hospital.

In the last three days alone there have been six separate attacks against Israelis, and a wave of protests. But the increased security measures have done little to curb the escalating violence.

On Sunday police tried to diffuse the mounting tension by blocking off Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. But there is concern the move could serve only to incite more anger.

The month of violence first began amid rumors that Israeli politicians wanted to completely block Palestinian access to the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits on the same compound known to Israelis as the Temple Mount.

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones towards Israeli troops during clashes near the border between Israel and Central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government has insisted repeatedly that it has no intention to change the status quo for visitation rights at the site holy to both religions, and Secretary Kerry on Monday insisted there was no need for an international monitoring force at the site, as proposed by the French at the United Nations.

"We don't contemplate any change, but nor does Israel," Kerry said Monday during a visit to Madrid.

"Israel understands the importance of that status quo. What is important is to make sure everybody understands what that means. We are not seeking some new change. We are not seeking outsiders or others to come in," he said in reference to the French proposal.

What Kerry did call for was "clarity" from Israel on its stance regarding Al-Aqsa, and an urgent effort by both sides to calm the violence.

Kerry is to meet this week with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders to try and "find a way of making certain that everybody is clear with what is happening with respect to the Temple Mount."

Stabbings have been the hallmark of the attacks in Israel but as more guns are being used, Israeli civilians are taking matters into their own hands.

The Krav Gun Shop and Shooting Range in Jerusalem was packed Sunday as Israelis clamored to buy guns.

Jerusalem resident Aryeh Freidman was among those applying for permits and shooting tutorials.

"I think it's important in these cases to have a means of self defense," he told Vigliotti.

An employee at the gun shop told CBS News they've had hundreds of requests for guns in the last week alone. He said even if they were open 24 hours a day, they couldn't keep up with the current level of demand.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al-Aqsa Mosque (Arabic: المسجد الاقصى‎ al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, IPA: [ʔælˈmæsdʒɪd ælˈʔɑqsˤɑ] ( listen), “the Farthest Mosque”), also known as Al-Aqsa and Bayt al-Muqaddas, is the third holiest site in Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is the site on which the silver domed mosque sits, along with the Dome of the Rock, and is also referred to as al-Haram ash-Sharif ("the Noble Sanctuary"),[2] or the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration, when God directed him to turn towards the Kaaba.

Today, the Old City is under Israeli control, but the mosque remains under the administration of the Jordanian/Palestinian-led Islamic Waqf.

On 21 August 1969, a fire was started by a visitor from Australia named Denis Michael Rohan. Rohan was a member of an evangelical Christian sect known as the Worldwide Church of God.[26] He hoped that by burning down al-Aqsa Mosque he would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus, making way for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. Rohan was subsequently hospitalized in a mental institution.[27] In response to the incident, a summit of Islamic countries was held in Rabat that same year, hosted by Faisal of Saudi Arabia, the late king of Saudi Arabia. The al-Aqsa fire is regarded as one of the catalysts for the formation of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) in 1972.[28]

In the 1980s, Ben Shoshan and Yehuda Etzion, both members of the Gush Emunim Underground, plotted to blow up the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Etzion believed that blowing up the two mosques would cause a spiritual awakening in Israel, and would solve all the problems of the Jewish people. They also hoped the Third Temple of Jerusalem would be built on the location of the mosque.[29][30] On 15 January, 1988, during the First Intifada, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters outside the mosque, wounding 40 worshipers.[31][32] On 8 October, 1990, 22 Palestinians were killed and over 100 others injured by Israeli Border Police during protests that were triggered by the announcement of the Temple Mount Faithful, a group of religious Jews, that they were going to lay the cornerstone of the Third Temple.[33][34]

On 28 September 2000, then-opposition leader of Israel Ariel Sharon and members of the Likud Party, along with 1,000 armed guards, visited the al-Aqsa compound; a large group of Palestinians went to protest the visit. After Sharon and the Likud Party members left, a demonstration erupted and Palestinians on the grounds of the Haram al-Sharif began throwing stones and other projectiles at Israeli riot police. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd, injuring 24 people. The visit sparked a five-year uprising by the Palestinians, commonly referred to as the al-Aqsa Intifada, though some commentators, citing subsequent speeches by PA officials, particularly Imad Falouji and Arafat himself, claim that the Intifada had been planned months in advance, as early as July upon Yasser Arafat's return from Camp David talks.[35][36][37] On 29 September, the Israeli government deployed 2,000 riot police to the mosque. When a group of Palestinians left the mosque after Friday prayers (Jumu'ah,) they hurled stones at the police. The police then stormed the mosque compound, firing both live ammunition and rubber bullets at the group of Palestinians, killing four and wounding about 200.[38]

On 5 November 2014, Israeli police entered Al-Aqsa for the first time since capturing Jerusalem in 1967, said Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, director of the Islamic Waqf. Previous media reports of 'storming Al-Aqsa' referred to the Haram al-Sharif compound rather than the Al-Aqsa mosque itself.[39]

Religious status

Jerusalem is recognized as a sacred site in Islam. Though the Quran does not mention Jerusalem by name, it has been understood by Islamic scholars since the earliest times that many passages in the Quran refer to Jerusalem.[75] Jerusalem is also mentioned many times in the hadith. Some academics attribute the holiness of Jerusalem to the rise and expansion of a certain type of literary genre, known as al-Fadhail or history of cities. The Fadhail of Jerusalem inspired Muslims, especially during the Umayyad period, to embellish the sanctity of the city beyond its status in the holy texts.[76] Others point to the political motives of the Umayyad dynasty which led to the sanctification of Jerusalem in Islam.[77]

Later medieval scripts, as well as modern-day political tracts, tend to classify al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam.[78] For example, Sahih al-Bukhari quotes Abu Darda as saying: "the Prophet of God Muhammad said a prayer in the Sacred Mosque (in Mecca) is worth 100,000 prayers; a prayer in my mosque (in Medina) is worth 10,000 prayers; and a prayer in al-Aqsa Mosque is worth 1,000 prayers", more than in any other mosque. In addition, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam (and calls for Arab sovereignty over it).[79]



http://www.timesofisrael.com/jordanians-protesters-call-for-end-to-peace-treaty-with-israel/

Jordanian protesters call for end to peace treaty with Israel
Thousands demonstrate in various cities, burn Israeli flag, citing Israeli ‘violations’ in Jerusalem
By AFP October 16, 2015, 7:04 pm

Photograph -- Jordanian protesters wave the national and Palestinian flags during a demonstration near the Israeli Embassy in the capital Amman in solidarity with the Palestinians on October 16, 2015. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP)


Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets Friday calling on the government to scrap its peace treaty with Israel, which they accuse of violations in Jerusalem’s Temple Mount compound.

Demonstrations broke out in several cities after weekly Muslim prayers, with around 5,000 rallying in Amman, where they torched an Israeli flag.

“No Zionist embassy on Jordanian soil,” chanted the demonstrators, who rallied at the call of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.
They demanded the cancellation of the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, carrying signs that said “scrapping the Wadi Araba treaty is the response” to Israeli “violations” against Palestinians in Jerusalem.

“The land is ours, Jerusalem is ours and Allah is with us,” read another banner.

Anti-Israeli protests were also held in the northern cities of Zarqa and Irbid, in Mafraq in the east, Jerash in the northwest and in the southern port of Aqaba.

Jordan has custodian rights over the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews and scene of clashes last month between Palestinians youths and Israeli forces.

Palestinians accuse Israel of intending to change the status quo at the site. The Israeli government has repeatedly denied any intention of altering the status quo on the site, the holiest in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam, where Jews are currently permitted to visit but not to pray.

The violence has spread to other parts of Jerusalem, Israel, the West Bank and the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Friday’s protests came as Palestinians called for a “Day of Rage” against Israel, and as Jerusalem police barred men under 40 from attending prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Last month King Abdullah II warned that clashes at Al-Aqsa could have “serious consequences” and that any “provocation” in Jerusalem could damage ties between Jordan and Israel.

Amman withdrew its ambassador after clashes there last November.

On Wednesday, the Jordanian government said it was monitoring developments and that “legal and diplomatic decisions” could be taken in the face of “Israeli aggression.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.




“What Kerry did call for was "clarity" from Israel on its stance regarding Al-Aqsa, and an urgent effort by both sides to calm the violence. Kerry is to meet this week with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders to try and "find a way of making certain that everybody is clear with what is happening with respect to the Temple Mount." …. The Krav Gun Shop and Shooting Range in Jerusalem was packed Sunday as Israelis clamored to buy guns. Jerusalem resident Aryeh Freidman was among those applying for permits and shooting tutorials. "I think it's important in these cases to have a means of self defense," he told Vigliotti. An employee at the gun shop told CBS News they've had hundreds of requests for guns in the last week alone. He said even if they were open 24 hours a day, they couldn't keep up with the current level of demand.”

Bad blood runs deep in Israel and Palestine, and it’s all over religious tradition and control. Holy places are an interesting human phenomena. In Britain there is Wessex, the Neolithic center of civilization and the numerous burial mounds, stone circles and chamber tombs, and then came Stonehenge. Whether or not it is a calendar to predict eclipses, it is also clearly holy. That much artistry and pure effort wouldn’t have been put into something that was not central to the several civilizations that constructed and used it. It was a Holy place over many thousands of years.

The human tendency to attach meaning to places, things and communication forms such as rituals and mythologies, causes us to worship something. That’s good when it’s good. When it’s bad, it’s grounds for permanent warfare between groups. Jesus came along and said we should be friends with our neighbor and even “love our enemies.” That’s a tall order, and the churches which deified him and surrounded him with a whole “pantheon” and an elaborate mythology, “kinda forgot” what he actually said about how we should live. I want to see Arabs, Jews, and Westerners share the world fairly and behave decently toward each other, so we can achieve the kingdom on Earth.

I’m tired of all this rancorous and malicious activity between the Israelis and their neighbors, no matter who starts it. I’m beginning to think that people are simply not intelligent enough to live in peace. Maybe the US should pull the heck out of the place and let them all kill each other. Of course our friendship with Israel and our competition with Russia won’t let us do that, so John Kerry and other peacemakers will have to keep trying. I will try to keep hoping for peace, and believing in its feasibility.





http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/10/18/khorasan-group-leader-killed-in-strike-us-says/

Terrorism -- Khorasan Group leader killed in strike, US says
Published October 18, 2015


The “highest-ranking leader” of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Khorasan Group was killed during a coalition airstrike, the Department of Defense announced in a news release Sunday afternoon.

Abdul Mohsen Adballah Ibrahim al Charekh, a Saudi national also known as Sanafi al-Nasr, was killed during an Oct. 15 strike.

“The United States will not relent in its mission to degrade, disrupt and destroy Al Qaeda and its remnants,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement on Sunday. “This operation deals a significant blow to the Khorasan Group’s plans to attack the United States and our allies, and once again proves that those who seek to do us harm are not beyond our reach.”

The fifth senior Khorasan Group leader killed in the past four months, al-Nasr is described in the statement as a “long-time jihadist experienced in funneling money and fighters for Al Qaeda.” Officials say he moved funds from donors in the Gulf into the hands of terrorist leaders across the Middle East, organized new recruits and helped with operations in the West.




So we managed to stop a kingpin of the terrorists. That’s good. It’s better than losing all the time. Russian President Putin’s statement that it is the weak central governments in the area that are keeping the jihadism alive. When the US takes out or actively opposes a dictator who has used mustard gas on his own people to maintain control, there is a good chance that no moderate or democratic form of government will succeed him, and that terrorists will come in to grab a share of the land. ISIS has declared itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. They want to establish a new nation there.

The Russians, being who they are, simply sent in troops and began bombing the rebels rather than the strong man. They like “puppet states.” We do that, too, of course, but we don’t want to be as obvious about it as Russia is. Their goal is ever more power and wealth, and a direct assault is the way to go. It doesn’t always work, though, because the Russians basically lost the war against the Taliban, and can lose the war against ISIS also.

Of course, I hope they win over ISIS, because of the two I think Russia is a more civilized group. ISIS has almost lost its’ claim to human status in my view. They certainly aren’t following anything that I recognize as a religion, and they have absolutely no right to be there. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-6-kills-brother-3-playing-cops-and-robbers-chicago/

Boy, 6, kills brother, 3, playing "cops and robbers," police say
CBS/AP
October 18, 2015

Photograph -- Family members of the young child accidentally killed in Chicago by his older brother gather outside of Mount Sinai Hospital. CBS CHICAGO
Photograph -- Michael Santiago, 25, faces felony charges for the death of his 3-year-old son. CBS CHICAGO


CHICAGO -- Chicago police say a man was charged with felony child endangerment after his 6-year-old son accidentally shot and killed his 3-year-old brother, and the father told investigators that he got the gun illegally from a gang member.

The shooting occurred Saturday night. Guglielmi says the older boy and his younger brother wanted to play "cops and robbers" when one of them retrieved the loaded handgun from atop the refrigerator. The older boy shot his younger brother in the face.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says their father Michael Santiago told investigators that he was a former gang member and felt he needed the gun to protect his family.

CBS Chicago reports the 3-year-old was taken to a local hospital and then to Mount Sinai where he was pronounced dead.

Santiago is scheduled to appear in bond court on Sunday and Guglielmi says police are trying to trace the gun.




“Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says their father Michael Santiago told investigators that he was a former gang member and felt he needed the gun to protect his family. CBS Chicago reports the 3-year-old was taken to a local hospital and then to Mount Sinai where he was pronounced dead. Santiago is scheduled to appear in bond court on Sunday and Guglielmi says police are trying to trace the gun.” Whatever the NEED for a gun, they are still dangerous things, and children of three years old, much less six, are fascinated with them and that includes girls. If a gun is kept in the top of the closet, make it the closet in your bedroom and not the kitchen or storeroom, and don’t let any of your children see you go there to get it. In addition, teach them to stay away from guns and when they’re old enough, to handle one without discharging it or above all pointing it at anybody. It’s like teaching them how to cross a street safely, yell and fight strongly to discourage an abductor, float and dog paddle if they fall into deep water, and never harass a dog. They need to learn certain things early.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/19/449957553/canadians-go-to-the-polls-in-tight-national-election

Canadians Go To The Polls In Tight National Election
ALEXANDRA STARR
OCTOBER 19, 2015

Photograph -- Liberal Party candidate Justin Trudeau speaks at a campaign event Frobisher Bay in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada.
Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press


Canadians are heading to the polls today for what promises to be one of the closest elections in the country's history. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has held Canada's top office for nearly a decade, is narrowly trailing Justin Trudeau, leader of the centrist Liberal Party and son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who served in office from 1968-1979 and again from 1980-84.

Other candidates in the race include Thomas Mulcair, of the left-leaning New Democrats and Elizabeth May, the Green party candidate.

The fact that there are multiple left-of-center standard bearers means that even though a majority of Canadians favor progressive parties this election season, Harper could still win a rare fourth term. To combat that possibility, anti-Harper websites have sprung up, allowing progressive voters to "trade" their votes in different "ridings" (as Canada's election districts are known), which might improve the chances of electing a left-of-center government.

Canada has a parliamentary system, where the leader of the political party that wins the most of the seats in the House of Commons automatically becomes prime minister after the election.

What is at stake for Canada's southern neighbor (a.k.a., the United States) in this election? Canada is our biggest trading partner. And a switch from the conservatives to the liberals could have a pronounced effect on Canada's energy policies. Harper hails from the oil-rich province of Alberta, which has been dubbed Canada's Texas. Under his leadership, the country withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, the world's legally binding plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions. He has also been a strong backer of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring oil from Alberta into the U.S. While Trudeau is also a supporter of Keystone, he has said Canada needs to regulate its carbon emissions.

Trudeau was a teacher and public speaker before he became head of the Liberal Party in 2013. Opponents have derided him as a lightweight. But both the sluggish Canadian economy, which is heavily dependent on commodity exports, and Harper's long tenure in office have helped Trudeau take an almost nine-point lead, per one of the latest polls.

On Sunday, John Oliver of HBO's "Last Week Tonight," weighed in on the race and defied a Canadian law forbidding foreigners from telling Canadians how to vote. With the help of Canadian-native comedian Mike Myers, he made a memorable pitch to Canadian voters to turn Harper out.




“Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has held Canada's top office for nearly a decade, is narrowly trailing Justin Trudeau, leader of the centrist Liberal Party and son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who served in office from 1968-1979 and again from 1980-84. Other candidates in the race include Thomas Mulcair, of the left-leaning New Democrats and Elizabeth May, the Green party candidate. …. To combat that possibility, anti-Harper websites have sprung up, allowing progressive voters to "trade" their votes in different "ridings" (as Canada's election districts are known), which might improve the chances of electing a left-of-center government. …. And a switch from the conservatives to the liberals could have a pronounced effect on Canada's energy policies. Harper hails from the oil-rich province of Alberta, which has been dubbed Canada's Texas. Under his leadership, the country withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, the world's legally binding plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions. …. Trudeau was a teacher and public speaker before he became head of the Liberal Party in 2013. Opponents have derided him as a lightweight. But both the sluggish Canadian economy, which is heavily dependent on commodity exports, and Harper's long tenure in office have helped Trudeau take an almost nine-point lead, per one of the latest polls.”

There’s no law in this country about outsiders “telling Americans how to vote.” If Putin were to do that there would be a loud outcry from the blogosphere, but that would be all. It’s interesting how similar Canadians are to us, even though it is a parliamentary system. If we had a system like that we would have a way to get rid of Senators and Congressmen who had been in their positions long enough to become lazy and corrupt, for instance, and we could simply declare our lack of confidence in the government, causing an election and turn everybody out at once.

That idea about “trading votes” is interesting, and would solve the problem I have about voting for any third party candidate who can become “a spoiler.” He may be the best, but if he splits the Democrats and prevents their getting elected without himself winning, he causes the better party to be defeated by the absolutely villainous party, as occurred when Eugene McCarthy ran as a peace candidate against Richard Nixon.

Thus began the origin of our Republican reign of terror in this country. Of course several right wing groups such as the John Birch Society were already growing in popularity at those times, fueled by the “white backlash.” I am glad to see that Canada hasn’t succumbed to the far right yet, and has some good liberal groups to consider. The idea of a Green Party appeals to me. Maybe I can get in my old Honda and move up there if the Dominionists succeed in taking over here, if I’m not in a nursing home by then.


See the article below about the “motion of no confidence.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_of_no_confidence
Motion of no confidence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A motion of no confidence (alternatively vote of no confidence, censure motion, no-confidence motion, or (unsuccessful) confidence motion) is a statement or vote which states that a person in a superior position—be it government, managerial, etc.—is no longer deemed fit to hold that position. This may be based on said person falling short in some respect, failing to carry out obligations, or making choices that other members feel are detrimental. As a parliamentary motion, it demonstrates to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in (one or more members of) the appointed government.

A censure motion is different from a no-confidence motion. "No Confidence" leads to compulsory resignation of the council of ministers whereas "Censure" is meant to show disapproval and does not result in the resignation of ministers. The censure motion can be against an individual minister or a group of ministers, but the no-confidence motion is directed against the entire cabinet. Censure motions need to state the reasons for the motion while no-confidence motions do not require reasons to be specified.

Parliamentary systems[edit]

In many parliamentary democracies, strict time limits exist as to the proposing of a no confidence motion, with a vote only allowed once every three, four or six months. Thus knowing when to use a motion of no confidence is a matter of political judgement; using a motion of no confidence on a relatively trivial matter may prove counterproductive to its proposer if a more important issue suddenly arises which warrants a motion of no confidence, because a motion cannot be proposed if one had been voted on recently and cannot be proposed again for a number of months. Sometimes, the government will choose to declare that one of its bills is a "motion of confidence" in order to prevent dissident members of parliament from voting against it.




I bid you all adieu for now, since I’m too tired to continue and I want to lie down in front of the TV and watch old shows from my younger years, such as Perry Mason and Matlock. That’s what it’s like when you get to be 70. Work awhile, rest awhile.