{"id":13965,"date":"2014-10-24T00:14:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T07:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=13965"},"modified":"2014-10-24T00:14:15","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T07:14:15","slug":"open-thread10242014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/24\/open-thread10242014\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–10\/24\/2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing for tomorrow, day 186.  I\u2019m rushing to get this finished before I leave for my volunteer work in prison.<\/font><\/p>\n

The Victims Impact meeting went very well, and my presentation was well received.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:05 (average 4:48).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"1023-Broncos35-Chargers21\"<\/font><\/p>\n

As penance for missing it, I must say 513 Hail Peytons<\/em>. \ud83d\ude42<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Republican Gov. John Kasich got a lot of attention on Monday for acknowledging reality<\/a> when he said that Obamacare repeal is "not gonna happen." Then he went even deeper, saying that the "political or ideological" opposition to Obamacare\u2014and, in particular, Medicaid expansion\u2014doesn’t "hold water against real flesh and blood, and real improvements in people’s lives." Two thoughts spring to mind reading that. Either John Kasich has given up any presidential aspirations or Kasich is seeing a shift in his party away from Obamacare insanity. <\/p>\n

As it turns out, it’s neither of those things, because Kasich immediately "clarified"<\/a> his position.<\/p>\n

\n

"I don’t back Obamacare. I never have. I want it to be repealed," he told The Washington Post in a telephone interview. "If the House and the Senate [are Republican-controlled] and we have a Republican president, Obamacare will be repealed flat out. Flat out. And it will be replaced."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So much for "real improvements in people’s lives." But that’s not the best part. He goes full McConnell<\/a> in his backtracking talk with Politico.<\/p>\n

Even when one acknowledges the need to feign sanity, the need to suck \u2026 nevermind \u2026 for money requires that they goosestep first.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards were convicted and immediately jailed Wednesday for their roles in a deadly 2007 shooting<\/a> in Baghdad\u2019s Nisour Square that marked a bloody nadir in America\u2019s war in Iraq.<\/p>\n

A jury in Federal District Court found that the deaths of 17 Iraqis in the shooting, which began when a convoy of the guards suddenly began firing in a crowded intersection, was not a battlefield tragedy, but the result of a criminal act.<\/p>\n

The justice here, although commendable, is incomplete, as long as the company exists in any form. Because it became known as the Republican Gestapo, it changed it’s name to Xe and then to Academi<\/a>. as it remains as part of Constellis Holdings.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Upworthy<\/a>: <\/font><\/p>\n

She’s already America’s sweetheart, and now she’s won an award for her anti-bullying work. As someone who was bullied herself, Julia Roberts can really relate to the teens she works with. <\/p>\n