{"id":13449,"date":"2014-08-14T00:22:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T07:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=13449"},"modified":"2014-08-14T00:22:54","modified_gmt":"2014-08-14T07:22:54","slug":"open-thread8142014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/14\/open-thread8142014\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–8\/14\/2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 115.  I did a lot of house cleaning today in preparation for my grocery delivery.  Then I put everything away.  I feel a little tired, because I still haven\u2019t found a stable sleep schedule.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:04 (average 5:00).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Patriots on Parade<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

There\u2019s been some misunderstanding, as several people have sent me links to articles about other people.  You are the people I want to feature, the people who participate in this blog, whether it be here or on Care2, or somewhere else where my articles or posted.  People whom you know personally would also work.  It\u2019s the everyday heroes like you that will be the ones to make a difference.<\/font><\/p>\n

Also, there has been some discomfort over my choice of the term Patriot, because of its Republican connotations.  That\u2019s exactly why I chose it.  Republicans stole the word.  They didn\u2019t earn  it.  It does not describe them.  They don\u2019t deserve it.  My intent is to take it away from them and give it to people who have earned it, whom it does describe, and who do deserve it: you.  You are the authentic patriots who are making your country better in countless small ways.  It\u2019s your word, not theirs.  Haven\u2019t we been allowing Republicans to define the terms of our national discourse for far too long?<\/font><\/p>\n

Finally, those that don\u2019t like to toot their own horn can just give me the info.  I\u2019ll do the tooting!!<\/font><\/p>\n

Fantasy Football<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Players, don\u2019t forget that our live draft is Saturday morning at 9:00 AM Pacific Daylight Savings Time.  That\u2019s<\/font> 10:00 Mountain, 11:00 Central, Noon Eastern.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Raw Story<\/a>: <\/font>An Oklahoma man has been charged with threatening to kill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his family, according to court documents obtained on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Charles Jason Moreland, 31, of Tulsa, is suspected of sending profanity-laced email messages in April directed at the veteran Democratic senator from Nevada that said if Reid \u201cever steps foot out of D.C., he will be done. You\u2019re a dead \u2026 man Harry Reid,\u201d according to the documents.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for Moreland was not immediately available for comment. Reid\u2019s office was also not available for comment.<\/p>\n

Moreland was arrested on July 31 and the court documents had been under seal until this week. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n

When he gets out the RNC will have a job waiting for him.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Common Dreams<\/a>: <\/font>Following criticism of Hillary Clinton’s hawkish foreign policy remarks published Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders said in an interview on Monday that Clinton shouldn’t be presumed as the Democratic nominee for president since the U.S. political process isn’t one in which "we anoint people."<\/p>\n

Sanders also hinted at his possible willingness to challenge her for the Democratic nomination for president.<\/p>\n

Sanders spoke in an interview with ABC’s Jeff Zeleny a day after The Atlantic published an interview<\/a> with Clinton in which she slammed Obama’s foreign policy, saying "Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle." Sanders indicated his respect for the former Secretary of State, while at the same time cautioning against assuming that she will be the Democratic nominee before she’s even announced her candidacy.<\/p>\n

I would back Bernie over Hillary in a hot minute.<\/font><\/p>\n

From AlterNet<\/a>: <\/font>It\u2019s become fashionable for politicos to predict that 2014 will be another boffo election for Republican candidates at all levels. <\/p>\n

The New York Times this week reported<\/a> that the GOP is likely to emerge with new majorities in perhaps nine state legislative chambers. Republicans currently control 60 of America\u2019s 99 state assemblies or senates, and have monopolies on power in 36 states\u2014the most since the 1950s. <\/p>\n

But a closer look reveals that 2014 is not going to be a slam-dunk for the GOP in state legislatures. Instead, Democrats stand a good chance of breaking the Republican grip on power in five states\u2014Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Arkansas, New Hampshire\u2014while maintaining current partisan divisions in others. That\u2019s nowhere close to reversing 2010\u2019s Republican wave, but it\u2019s not merely holding the line, either. <\/p>\n

Click through for more detail.  Let me say this one more time. It’s all about turnout. Vote and get out the vote!!<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"0814Cartoon\"<\/font><\/p>\n

Article 11 reads<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion<\/strong>,\u2014as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],\u2014and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Muslim] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 115.  I did a lot of house cleaning today in preparation for my grocery delivery.  Then I put everything away.  I feel a little tired, because I still haven\u2019t found a stable sleep schedule. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 3:04 (average 5:00).  To do it, click here.  How did […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","category-35-id","category-3-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}