{"id":15001,"date":"2015-04-04T11:02:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-04T18:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15001"},"modified":"2015-04-04T11:02:09","modified_gmt":"2015-04-04T18:02:09","slug":"open-thread442015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/04\/open-thread442015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–4\/4\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because it is a relatively slow day for news, and because I have been pushing myself a little harder than I ought for the last couple days, I\u2019m making this today\u2019s only article.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:02 (average 5:47).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Yesterday Memories Pizza was all over the news for saying this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

"If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no," O’Connor told local affiliate ABC 57. "We are a Christian establishment."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not sure what self-respecting human being would want wedding pizzas in the first place, but okay. We get it. You’re hateful. And guess what happens when you take to the media to trumpet your right to discriminate<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\n

Memories Pizza, a takeout restaurant in Walkerton, Indiana, has closed its doors following outrage over remarks the shop owner made regarding same-sex marriage. […] <\/p>\n

Co-owner Kevin O’Connor, whose relation to Crystal is unclear, said Memories is "temporarily" dark until "threatening" calls and online posts die down, according to TMZ.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Funny how when you trumpet to the world that you’re going to discriminate against people, you get an overwhelming negative response\u2014even if you try to claim it’s not discrimination.<\/p>\n

May all such Republican businesses close this way.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The uproar set off by legislation in Indiana and Arkansas that sponsors billed as religious freedom measures not only signaled a revival of the culture wars, but also threw into stark relief the expectations and tensions in the coalitions that now make up the two major political parties.<\/p>\n

The contrasting reactions to the proposals \u2014 Democrats united in opposition, Republicans torn by dissent \u2014 illustrates how the parties have effectively traded places.<\/p>\n

This phenomena is how Republicans were able to shift the entire political spectrum further and further to the right, over the last 30 – 40 years. Rather that trading places, a more realistic description is that the Republican Reich has moved so far right, that Democrats now enjoy majority support on such issues. The difference now is that instead of giving ground like Democrats did, Republicans seem content to destroy the nation.<\/font><\/p>\n

From TPM<\/a>: <\/font>When it comes to health care at the Supreme Court this year, all eyes are focused on the Obamacare tax credits case, King v. Burwell. But a case decided this week, Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc.<\/a>, has raised significant concerns for the availability of quality health care for those who need it most.<\/p>\n

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court turned against decades of legal precedent and ruled that Medicaid providers cannot use the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to stop state provider payment policies that are inconsistent with the federal Medicaid Act\u2019s requirement for adequate reimbursement rates. That may sound like a bunch of legalese, but the outcome has a real impact on the 68 million-plus people relying on Medicaid. If a state\u2019s Medicaid payment rates are too low (and many providers complain these rates are below their cost of providing services), then provider participation in Medicaid\u2014and the ability of enrollees to obtain care\u2014is at risk. <\/p>\n

This is just how RepubliCare works.<\/font><\/p>\n

\"RepubliCare\"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0404Cartoon\"<\/font><\/p>\n

His opposition to Vietnam was a threat to war profits.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because it is a relatively slow day for news, and because I have been pushing myself a little harder than I ought for the last couple days, I\u2019m making this today\u2019s only article. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 4:02 (average 5:47).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From Daily […]<\/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-15001","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\/15001","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=15001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}