Google/Blogger changes coming next week

An FYI post.

Do you follow my blog?  You should be aware of the coming changes to how Google allows people to follow blogs;

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

I'm not sure if it affects a lot of my followers, but there you go.

Conservative strategy for 2016 - ignore Obama

President Obama is back from vacation, and reportedly fired up. He's going to do something about gun violence using Executive Orders. I thought he was supposed be a lame duck.  His job approval ratings have leveled out in the low 40's, and he's not going to get a lot of support on much from voters and perhaps from fellow Democrats.  So why isn't he acting like a lame duck?  Or is all of his bluster just for show?

Actually, none of that matters.  What Obama is really doing is looking for a way to get a bump in his approval ratings, but not for him.  He's trying to ensure that Hillary Clinton (or less likely, but preferably for him, Bernie Sanders) wins the presidential election in November this year.  He wants a Democrat to win in order to cement his legacy on things like Obamacare, on the Iran deal, and on Cuba normalization, among other things).  Should a Republican win, and the GOP manage to retain both the Congress and Senate, the next president is likely to oversee a significant dismantling of the Obama agenda items.

And that's why what Obama does (trying to glom onto gun control or any other issue that he might think will stick in order to improve his own approval ratings and thus help his possible successor), should not matter to conservatives.  The rationale - the way Obama will operate is not be conciliatory but to be confrontational in the steadfast belief that he's still the smartest man in the Capitol.  As a result, he will continue to win no friends and there is no reason to believe he can move his approval ratings in a positive direction in any significant way.  Everything he has done prior to this has followed the pattern and all it does is cement things where they are - supporters support it, detractors don't like it.

His efforts will have no impact. He's made himself a lame duck by continuing to operate in a predictable fashion.  He has learned nothing as leader.  He has personified the the difference between intelligence and wisdom.  He may have a decent IQ, but he does not learn from his own mistakes and continues to make them.  So he may be intelligent (I'd argue not really even that), but he's not wise.

What Obama does now is totally irrelevant.  Conservative pundits would be wise to ignore the president entirely this year (barring of course, new scandals) and focus on the problems with Hillary and with Bernie, as well as seasoning that with the positives of the GOP candidates.  It'll be a winning formula, helped in part by Obama's insistence on being a stubborn tactician. Who knows, his increasingly irrelevant status may push him into doing something foolish that actually hurts his own party.

Coming soon to a battlefield near you, Saudi Arabia vs. Iran.

Saudi Arabia recently executed a high profile Shiite cleric.  In response, Iranians stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran. In response to that, Saudi Arabia has cut relations with Iran.  That's what's known in strategic circles as escalating tension.  But could this all actually be about oil?

If Saudi Arabia even suspected that this would cause problems for them, why proceed with the execution?  Why not drag out the proceedings for as long as possible to avoid an escalation?  Maybe Saudi Arabia wanted an escalation of tensions with Iran.

Consider:

• Oil prices have plummeted over the last year or so, in large part due to Saudi Arabia's refusal to implement production quotas in order to lower supply and artificially bolster the market price.
• Iranian oil thanks to president Obama's weak-tea deal with Iran, will soon be coming on line and into the marketplace, thus creating an even greater production glut, and putting further downward pressure on the commodity's price.  That's not good for any oil producing nation, including Saudi Arabia.
• Iran poses a growing threat to Saudi Arabia as the regional power player

If I'm the Saudi King, I'm looking for ways to weaken Iran.  Clearly holding no clout with Obama on the Iran deal I have to think of another way to manage Iran.  Escalating tensions is a way to do that.  Iran may be weaker now than they will be in five years because as the oil money flows into Iran, rebuilding an effective fighting force becomes possible.  So for Saudi Arabia time is also of the essence.

Given those factors, forcing an all out shooting war with Iran allows Saudi Arabia a couple of advantages.

• They may be able to take the opportunity to take out Iran's oil production capabilities before they come on line.
• They may be able to force America's hand into participating in a war in defense of a nominal regional ally.
• They may garner Israeli support and action against Iran as well, since they can be seen as a common enemy.
• With Russia focused on Syria, and Crimea, risk of Russian involvement is decreased.
• With Iraq in turmoil due to ISIS activities, and the nation the middle ground between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it provides an opportunity to take action against ISIS (again, potentially forcing America's hand).
• Would a war inflate oil prices? Undoubtedly.  The only questions are: by how much and for how long, and will it benefit Saudi Arabia in the short and/or long run?

Was that execution in Saudi Arabia done deliberately to provoke a hot war with Iran?  There's a good case for YES. And if indeed that's the thinking, it may be inevitable.

Sunday Verse

Psalm 23.

Saturday Learning Series - The Fibonacci Sequence

Oh no, math!

Friday Musical Interlude - Stevie Nicks

Gold and Braid, live in 1981. A beautiful way to start 2016.