{"id":14601,"date":"2015-01-27T14:29:49","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T22:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=14601"},"modified":"2015-01-27T14:29:49","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T22:29:49","slug":"open-thread1272015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/27\/open-thread1272015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–1\/27\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s day 83.  The second day of the new schedule did not do so well.  I was awakened at 2:30 AM by the person in the apartment above me.  He got off the elevator on the wrong floor and kept trying to open my door with his key. I did not get back to sleep until after 6:00 AM and slept later than intended.  I could still write, but the news is all snow, so this is today\u2019s only article.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:19 (average 5:38).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history.<\/p>\n

The spending goal, revealed Monday at the Kochs\u2019 annual winter donor retreat near Palm Springs, Calif., would allow their political organization to operate at the same financial scale as the Democratic and Republican Parties.<\/p>\n

Is it any wonder that so many Republicans are whoring themselves to suck nevermind<\/em>?<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Interesting article<\/a> in Politico today on how Elizabeth Warren ended Obama\u2019s nomination of rich Wall Street banker Antonio Weiss to be Under Secretary for Domestic Finance.  Warren led the effort to totally shut the deal down \u2013 she wouldn\u2019t even meet with Weiss. Some choice bits:<\/p>\n

\n

The game in Washington had changed. <\/p>\n

Elizabeth Warren, sometimes disregarded by the White House as a largely irrelevant nuisance, could no longer be ignored. Bolstered by grass roots groups eager for any anti-Wall Street crusade and a vibrant progressive media that hung on her every word, Warren succeeded in knocking out Weiss\u2019 nomination<\/p>\n

    \u2026<\/p>\n

It was not a total victory. Weiss will still join Treasury as an unconfirmed counselor to Secretary Jack Lew. But in terms of symbolism, the Washington power game and the ideological direction of the Democratic Party, Warren won big. And the moderate, Wall Street- and business-friendly wing of the party \u2014 in past years happily occupied by Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting Hillary Clinton \u2014 got punched in the mouth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Isn’t it wonderful to have a Democrat with the will and the ability to hold Hillary’s feet to the fire. Go Liz!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>Severe winter storm events often prompt naysayers to mock, \u201cWhere\u2019s that global warming?\u201d But while the concept may seem to conflict with rising global temperatures, these storms are actually obvious evidence of man-made climate change.<\/p>\n

Climate change, say scientists, fuels the increasing intensities of winter storms. Warmer temperatures allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture and create heavier than normal precipitation. Climatologists agree that global warming will continue to make these storms worse over time.<\/p>\n

Weather is different from climate, scientists point out. Weather is what we experience on a day-to-day basis; climate \u2014 especially in regards to climate change \u2014 is more about long-term trends.<\/p>\n

What’s more important is that this storm is deadlier than RepubliCare in a retirement community, even if it isn\u2019t as severe as forecast. Please stay in a safe place.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0127Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s day 83.  The second day of the new schedule did not do so well.  I was awakened at 2:30 AM by the person in the apartment above me.  He got off the elevator on the wrong floor and kept trying to open my door with his key. I did not get back to sleep […]<\/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-14601","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\/14601","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=14601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}