{"id":13750,"date":"2014-09-25T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T07:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=13750"},"modified":"2014-09-25T00:26:54","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T07:26:54","slug":"open-thread9252014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/25\/open-thread9252014\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–9\/25\/2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 157.  When this posts I won’t be here.  I’ll be in Salem for prison volunteer work.  I’m uploading my articles this morning, set to post themselves shortly after midnight.  I know what the puzzle link will be.  Hopefully, I can get back in and edit in my time tonight.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 5:02 (average 5:18).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>…There were two important articles in Foreign Affairs, the quarterly journal and associated website run by the Council on Foreign Relations. Yeah, yeah, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilaterals and all the tin-foil hat stuff notwithstanding, the simple fact is that some very powerful and very influential people have paid some eye-popping amounts of money to be counted as members of the CFR. And Foreign Affairs has a long, and I would even dare say, proud and enviable, history of publishing important articles that signaled major shifts or developments in USA policies, such as George Kennan's July 1947 X article<\/a> explaining the new policy of  "containment" of the Soviet Union… <\/p>\n

For the last couple of days, JL from Care2 and I have been trying to figure out a way to post a legal excerpt of this article that conveys its bottom line. Frankly, it's just too complex and convoluted to do so. However it's just too important not to share. Therefore, please just take my word that you owe yourself this read and click through.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Upworthy<\/a>: <\/font>A special Upworthy partnership with the UN Climate Summit 2014<\/a>. Made possible by Unilever Project Sunlight<\/a>. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

There are 45,000 wildfires per year in the southeastern U.S. alone, and since 2000, we've had eight of the worst years for wildfires. Now, of course, it's not just climate change that's causing this, but after you watch this video, you'll understand reason number gazillion for us needing to do something about what's happening to our planet.<\/p>\n