Reblog: Norm Ornstein

 Incredible perspective from this article about how shifting the whip pressure to the minority on a cloture votes could let minor legislation pass.

Rather than completely eliminate the procedure, Democrats should reform it so that it continues to exist for truly extraordinary circumstances.

Hamer-English Dictionary

 

This was taken from one of my weird side projects. There seems to be no English-Hamer dictionary in all of the internet, so I made one. This is translated from a Spanish-Hamer dictionary. Also useful is this phonetic dictionary

v--------v

HAMER - BANNA

El hamer - banna, llamado también hamar-koke, hammercoche, amarcoche, cocche, beshada, hamar, amar, bana o kara kerre, es utilizado por unas 27.000 personas en Etiopía, en el sur de la región Omo, cerca del río Omo, y en el norte del lago Turkana, en la zona fronteriza con Kenia y Sudán. Los Hamer y los Banna son dos etnias diferentes que comparten el mismo idioma.

Español	Hamer - Banna
agua (water)	nok-o, nuko, niik-o,
ahora (now)	taki
ayer (yesterday)	na, ni,
barriga (belly)	i , ii
bazo / tipo enfermedad / peritonitis (stomach illness)	morr
blanco (white)	chaawli
boca (mouth)	aapo
buscar (look for)	zag -
cabeza (head)	mete , meete
carne (meat)	waa
casa (house)	baka, bak-ulu
cenizas (ashes)	bidini
cola (tail)	doobanna
comida (food)	gala
comprar (to buy)	sha'n -
cortar (cut)	texa
cuello (neck)	luk'uma
cuerno (horn)	k'ushuba
dado (dice)	di
dar (give)	im
decir (say)	gachi
diez (ten)	teppi, tabi, tipi,
dos (two)	lamma
elefante (elephant)	don/ger
espíritu del muerto o antepasados (sprit of the dead or ancestors)	meshi
frio (aire)	k'azh-i, k'aj-i, k'aj -
fuego (fire)	nu, nuu
garra (claw)	gusho , gushum
grande (big)	gebi
hígado (liver)	torob/o
hogar (home)	zel -
hoja (leaf)	k'al , kalpo
hueso (bone)	leefa
huevo (egg)	mula , muuka
invitado (invited)	shosh-i -
ir (to go)	y -
jefe / dios (boss/god)	baira, bair-o
lanza (spear)	ban /, bank'i
león (lion)	zo'bo'
llover (to rain)	k'an , doomo
lluvia (rain)	doob -, doble -, dob -
luna (moon)	arp-e, arf-i, arp-i
madera (wood)	haaqa
madre (mother)	ind-o
mandril (monkey/chuck?????)	gai-ta(masculino), gain(femenino)
mano (hand)	ani, an
miel (honey)	kur-i
muchachos (boys)	nana
muerte (die)	dees
nariz (nose)	nuki
nombre (name)	naabi, nabe
oir (hear)	sIIk -
ojo (eye)	afi, ap-i, aapi, haap-i
oreja (ear)	k'am-i
pájaro (bird)	apte, apopai
pastor (shepard)	gishima
pecho femenino (female breast)	ami
pez (fish)	kaara
pie (foot)	rro
piojo (louse / lice)	k'aasa
puerta / verja (door/gate)	kari
qué? (what)	are
quemadura (burn)	a
quién? (who?)	ayne
rodilla (knee)	b/uk'o
saber (to know)	des
sangre (blood)	zombi, zumpi
seis (six)	lah
serpiente (snake)	guuni, guni
sol (sun)	ay
todos (everyone)	wuul
tumba (tomb)	duji , olo
vasija (vessel)	da , daha
vosotros (you)	ya'ddi
Me	inta

 

Senatorial Rules Ideas

 

Senatorial rules are the worst. They're decided by the majority, so it's always a weird game to try to give the best political situation to the majority. 

My crazy idea is to have rule changes only take effect after 4 years. That way the majority wouldn't senselessly give themselves more power because they might be the minority when the rules come to effect. Emergency rule changes could come into effect immediately with 2/3 of the Senate.

Biden's Cabinet, and how it compares with American demographics

 With Joe Biden's announcement of the most diverse cabinet in American history, I wondered how the demographic breakdown of his cabinet, compared with how much a demographic group should get in the cabinet.

Note this comparison will always be a bit off, because the least members a minority can get while still being represented is 1/16.

OK so here's the demographic data. From the census 

Race	Population (2017 est.)	Share of total population
Total	321,004,407	100%
One race	310,923,363	96.9%
White	234,370,202	73.0%
Black or African American	40,610,815	12.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native	2,632,102	0.8%
Asian	17,186,320	5.4%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	570,116	0.2%
Other races	15,553,808	4.8%
Two or more races	10,081,044	3.1%
White and Black or African American	2,657,560	0.8%
White and American Indian and Alaska Native	1,905,946	0.6%
White and Asian	2,057,321	0.6%
Black or African American and American Indian and Alaska Native	319,097	0.1%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	56,510,571	17.6%
Mexican	35,709,528	11.1%
Puerto Rican	5,418,521	1.7%
Cuban	2,158,962	0.7%
Other Hispanic or Latino	13,223,560	4.1%
Not Hispanic or Latino	264,493,836	82.4%
White (non-Hispanic)	197,277,789	61.5%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	39,445,495	12.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native (non-Hispanic)	2,098,763	0.7%
Asian (non-Hispanic)	16,989,540	5.3%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic)	515,522	0.2%
Some other race (non-Hispanic)	715,432	0.2%
Two or more races	7,451,295	2.3%

Doing some back of the envelope calculation you should have:

    9.84 White Cabinet Member

    2.86 Hispanic Cabinet Members

    2.03 Black Cabinet Members

    0.86 Asian Cabinet Members

    0.16 American Indian Members

    0.32 "Two or more races"

Let's see how that stacks up against Biden's cabinet

Looking at it,  Biden did a pretty good job matching his cabinet to his country

I just had to write 450 words about the plot of The Secret Life of Pets for School.

 You had to write about a story with a traditional rising and falling action plot structure 

Pets  was the only story I know simplistic enough to work,

 

Here's the ridiculously clinical plot structure of Pets;

 

Secret Life of Pets

 

Exposition: Duke enters Max's home, upending Max's relationship with his owner, and the two conflict in their relationship. Max plots to have Duke kicked out of the house, when his plan fails he and Duke are captured by animal control after being assaulted by a cats. Him and Duke are freed in a coincidental Flushed Pets operation to free a member, the pair agree with the groups leader Snowball to join the underground organization as compensation.

Rising Action: After being found to be domestication sympathizers, Duke and Max are attempted to be ritually sacrificed by the Flushed Pets; the dogs then accidentally kill a senior member, escape and flee to Brooklyn. Duke is picked up by animal control in front of his dead former owner's house. Max pursues the Animal Control truck, several high-ranked member of Flushed Pets are also taken by Animal Control in an attempt to capture Max. 

Climax: Snowball and Max realize they must work together to stop the truck and free their friends. They hijack a bus and crash it to stop the truck on the Brooklyn bridge. Humans flee the scene and the truck careens off the side of the bridge, only being stopped by unstable repair scaffolding. The main apparatus of Flushed Pets arrives accusing Max of attempting to kidnap and eat Snowball, who has been knocked unconscious by the crash. The mass of animals have surrounded Max, when Max's friends from the apartment building arrive; a brawl ensues and the area is eventually cleared of Flushed Pets. Max crawls down to where the Truck is, the members of Flushed have already freed themselves, but Duke is still trapped in the cages of the Animal Control Truck. Max tries to get the keys from the dashboard, but in the process turns on the windshield wipers switch, sending the truck careening into the east river. All hope seems lost when the Keys are pulled out by the current, and Duke is trapped as air slowly leaves the sinking truck. But Snowball, seeing the keys float to the surface of the water, jumps from the Brooklyn bridge to deliver the keys to Max in the sinking Truck. 

Falling Action: Duke is freed and him and Max swim to the surface. The animals rejoice as all is forgotten between the Flushed Pets and Duke and Max. 

Resolution: Duke and Max find a new close relationship forged out of their experiences. Max also begins romantic relationship with a neighbor, and Snowball is picked up on the street by a young girl, and leaves Flushed Pets.

Test Post

 

      Wow, is this thing on?