Vote-Shaming; or, How Virginia Democrats Dodged a Bullet Last Weekend http://feralgenius.blogspot.com/2014/11/vote-shaming-or-how-virginia-democrats.html

I don’t know what Virginia Democrats are trying to achieve with this offensive strategy but tomorrow the Dems will eat the bitter fruit of their contempt for their voters when both houses of Congress slip far, far away from their reach.

Pianist wants bad review taken down under EU “right to be forgotten” rules http://boingboing.net/2014/11/03/pianist-wants-bad-review-takin.html

Where is Borges when you need him? The great Argentinean writer would do something brilliant with this ridiculous story of an artist who gets a tepid review of his performance removed from public view because it doesn’t reflect “the truth” about him.

Of course, we expect artists to be somewhat exalted but the fellow in the linked story is a hysteric of the first order.

Let’s continue analyzing Putin’s speech, shall we?

They once sponsored Islamic extremist movements to fight the Soviet Union. Those groups got their battle experience in Afghanistan and later gave birth to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The West if not supported, at least closed its eyes, and, I would say, gave information, political and financial support to international terrorists’ invasion of Russia (we have not forgotten this) and the Central Asian region’s countries. Only after horrific terrorist attacks were committed on US soil itself did the United States wake up to the common threat of terrorism.

In Putin-speak “international terrorists’ invasion of Russia” stands for Russia’s wars in Chechnya. Putin is upset that the international community (which, for him, consists solely of Americans and their puppets) did not side with Russia in these wars. He states directly that he sees no difference between the terrorists of 9/11 and the Chechens who fought against Russia.

During my conversations with American and European leaders, I always spoke of the need to fight terrorism together, as a challenge on a global scale. We cannot resign ourselves to and accept this threat, cannot cut it into separate pieces using double standards. Our partners expressed agreement, but a little time passed and we ended up back where we started. First there was the military operation in Iraq, then in Libya, which got pushed to the brink of falling apart. Why was Libya pushed into this situation? Today it is a country in danger of breaking apart and has become a training ground for terrorists.

It is obvious from this excerpt that Putin couldn’t care less about Lybia or Iraq. What drives him nuts is that the US makes decisions about these countries without asking for Putin’s permission. I know it sounds completely bizarre but most Russians are convinced that they are a (if not the) global superpower and that nothing in the world should happen without Russia’s approval.

We sometimes get the impression that our colleagues and friends are constantly fighting the consequences of their own policies, throw all their effort into addressing the risks they themselves have created, and pay an ever-greater price.

“Colleagues and friends” here are obviously a sarcastic reference to the members of NATO. The message that the problems in the Middle East were caused by Americans is very seductive to many people in the West. Putin is deftly exploiting the extreme patriotism of the Liberal Americans and tapping into many of their closely held beliefs.

After Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, declared openly that he was gay, Russian authorities dismantled the monument to Steve Jobs in St. Petersburg.

The explanation is that the monument in the form of a giant iPhone has turned into propaganda of homosexuality after Cook came out. Being openly gay is illegal in Russia. Plus, the Russians say, Snowden warned a while ago that Apple is evil, and it’s become obvious now that the company’s CEO is engaging in the propaganda of sodomy.

But I’m sure none of this will dampen the Liberals’ adoration of Putin.

http://nepaliaustralian.com/2014/11/03/nepaliaustralians-blog-award-2014-nominations-announced/

Clarissa’s Blog has been nominated for a blog award! Let’s follow the link and vote for our blog.

After several failed attempts to write about people in their 20s and 30s (whom Rendell doesn’t and can’t be expected to understand), the 84-year-old author has finally written about the subject she can discuss better than most: the elderly people. I’ve been wondering why Rendell was avoiding writing about the elderly. Any book by her is bound to be an instant best-seller but a book about people in their 70s, 80s and 90s will be of interest practically to anybody.

The Girl Next Door, Rendell’s clumsily titled 2014 novel, is immeasurably better than the Tigerlily’s Orchids (2010) and The Saint Zita Society (2012). Gone are the 20-year-olds who look up phone numbers in paper reference books and wait for something called “a morning newspaper” to be delivered to find out the news. Rendell finally turns to narrating the sensibilities of the people who still remember World War II and who have lived through the incredible transformations that have taken place since then.

There is very little murder mystery in this novel but I, for one, didn’t miss it. Of far greater interest to me was the story of a feminist awakening of a character in her 70s. It is never too late to start one’s life anew, experience, love, sex, rage, or undergo a complete transformation of one’s worldview.And if you doubt this, make sure you read Ruth Rendell’s novel The Girl Next Door.

And just look at how pathetic Putin is. On the one hand, he says “not everybody needs democracy, Americans should stop stuffing their recipes down everybody’s throats, we are not part of Western civilization and should be left in peace to do things our own way, democracy is not our way, leave us alone already.”

Yet he still keeps holding elections and goes out of his way to rig them in a way that gives him an overwhelming majority.

Putin – or anybody else – can writhe and wriggle but he can’t remove himself away from the logic of history and turn back the clock. Democratic elections are the only legitimating force left. There is no other way for power to present itself as legitimate.

Putin and his infantile tantrums will be swept away by the tide of history. Of course, he will manage to do a lot of damage before that.

Everybody laughed at Fukuyama with his “end of history” but today even Putin, even the puppet regime of the DNR, even the most entrenched little dictator somewhere in the boondocks feel the need to hold “elections.” Nobody really elects anything at those “elections.” But the need to hold them anyway is proof that Fukuyama was right.