{"id":15600,"date":"2015-07-12T13:26:44","date_gmt":"2015-07-12T20:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15600"},"modified":"2015-07-12T13:26:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T20:26:44","slug":"open-thread7122015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/12\/open-thread7122015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–7\/12\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m feeling especially tired today, having slept poorly.  Last night a group of black men kept me awake for over four hours, by walking up and down the street, screaming at the top of their lungs, and calling each other the N word.  I\u2019m ashamed to admit that even I had more than one stereotypical thought about them.  It truly saddens me that thugs like these could trigger even a man like me, a man with a history of civil rights activism going back to the early 1960s.  I am very sorry.  I hope such behavior by very few does not counter the major positive influence exerted by the black community following the Republican attack on the church.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:38 (average 5:30).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Recruiting is now complete for <\/font>Lefty Blog Friends<\/a><\/font>, our fantasy football league.  Pam and her End the GOP are now onboard. Welcome  Pam!! For more information, <\/font>click here<\/a><\/font>.  I will be publishing an article of tips shortly.  The live online draft is on 7\/25 at 11:00 AM PDT.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>If the scramble to hold together Europe\u2019s single currency has highlighted one thing, it is that national mind-sets can be more stubborn than the 60-year-old mantra of the Continent\u2019s \u201cever closer union\u201d once supposed. And no national psyche is more important to the outcome at this moment than Germany\u2019s.<\/p>\n

In insisting that Greece can stay in the euro only if everyone sticks to the rules, Germany has acted almost classically to stereotype. Its fondness for orderly procedure \u2014 the foundation of its post-1945 democracy \u2014 has prevailed even over its desire to lead 21st century Europe.<\/p>\n

If Germany is serious about following the rules, perhaps they should repay the loans they forced Greece to make when Germany’s version of the Republican Party was in power during WWII.<\/font><\/p>\n

From TPM<\/a>: <\/font>Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to make boosting middle class income and wages the focus of her economic agenda. The Democratic presidential candidate will point to stagnant paychecks as the central challenge facing the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n

Clinton will lay out the themes of her economic plan in a speech Monday in New York. Clinton’s campaign says in a preview on Saturday that the speech will emphasize the need for the real incomes of everyday Americans to rise steadily along with corporate profits and executive compensation.<\/p>\n

While Republican candidate Jeb Bush has called for an annual growth rate of 4 percent, Clinton will say that the nation’s economy should not be judged by a specific growth figure but rather by how much income rises for middle-class households.<\/p>\n

At least she will drown out the campaign opening announcement by the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan.  I want to know how Hillary plans to recover some of the wealth that Republicans took from poor and middle class citizens and gave to the super-rich.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>People who \u201cwant to kill babies\u201d don\u2019t want women to see their ultrasounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson spoke in length to the NRLC about his experiences as a physician administering ultrasounds. He talked about the advanced technology of ultrasounds that exists today, saying fewer people have had abortions since the technology has improved and women can see their fetus in detail on a computer screen. \u201cHow can anybody think that\u2019s just a mass of cells?\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons that the people who want to kill babies don\u2019t want you to see that.\u201d <\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a> found that looking at an ultrasound doesn\u2019t change a women\u2019s decision to have an abortion because the vast majority of women who seek out abortion services have already made up their mind. Nevertheless, 13 states<\/a> have laws on the book requiring doctors to perform an ultrasound before proceeding with an abortion. <\/p>\n

This is one of the five most absurd arguments made at a Republican Barefoot and Pregnant convention sponsored by NRLPAC. Click through for the other four.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0712Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m feeling especially tired today, having slept poorly.  Last night a group of black men kept me awake for over four hours, by walking up and down the street, screaming at the top of their lungs, and calling each other the N word.  I\u2019m ashamed to admit that even I had more than one stereotypical […]<\/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-15600","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\/15600","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=15600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}