{"id":13407,"date":"2014-08-08T00:20:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T07:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=13407"},"modified":"2014-08-08T00:20:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-08T07:20:40","slug":"open-thread882014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/08\/open-thread882014\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–8\/8\/2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 109.  Oversleeping last night has thrown off my sleep schedule.  I feel like I need to sleep, but have been unable to do so, so I\u2019m not as fresh as I\u2019d like to be.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 4:15 (average 5:37).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Religious Ecstasy<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"0808-Broncos21-Seahawks16\"<\/font><\/p>\n

At the ends of the first quarter, the other gods hurled down thunder and lightning from Olympus in homage to the Holy Ellipsoid Orb.  Worshipers had to flee.  The service was what last year\u2019<\/font>s Super Bowl should have been.<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>…Colt Thriemer and Thomas J Brown got into a fist fight at a Walmart Parking Lot.  There were several witnesses who say that the victim, Thomas Brown, was walking away<\/strong> afterwards to his car when Colt Thriemer shot Thomas Brown after retrieving a handgun.  Mr. Brown was shot 10 times at fairly close range both in the back while he was walking away and then when he turned towards Mr. Thriemer after being shot, apparently pleading him to stop.  Mr. Thriemer then fled the scene<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When he was apprehended, he did what all murderers do now in Florida: claim he was in "fear for his life".  The prosecutor agreed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor’s statement summed up all that is fucking wrong with Stand Your Ground:<\/p>\n

\n

"The Stand Your Ground Statue makes no exception to the immunity because Brown may have been walking away from Thriemer when deadly force was used<\/em>."<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That’s because the f_ing law was made by f_ing  imbeciles.  [emphasis original<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Of course the law was made by imbeciles. Republicans are.<\/font><\/p>\n

From AlterNet<\/a>: <\/font>President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday slapped a one-year ban and restrictions on food and agricultural product imports from nations that have imposed sanctions on Russia over its defiant stance on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The decision marks yet another escalation in a furious diplomatic standoff that has seen Russia slip into growing international isolation and the onset of what some US media are calling a "new Cold War".<\/p>\n

It also threatens to send the price of Russian food soaring and feed public discontent with an economic slowdown that analysts indirectly attribute to Putin’s perceived backing of pro-Kremlin insurgents fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

If any nation sanctioning Vladimir Putin (R-RU), aka GOP Pootie, has a shortage of foods, the US can help meet the need, especially if we stop paying farmers not to grow it.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crook and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>The hosts of Fox & Friends on Wednesday politicized the death of an Army general as a "touchdown for the Taliban" so they could score some points against President Barack Obama. <\/p>\n

Barf Bag Alert!!<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n