{"id":15607,"date":"2015-07-13T11:35:14","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T18:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15607"},"modified":"2015-07-13T11:35:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T18:35:14","slug":"open-thread7132015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/13\/open-thread7132015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–7\/13\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

I did manage to get some sleep last night, and I also want to rest today, before things get busy again.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:02 (average 4:26).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>In a blistering interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit, Piketty blasts Germany and it’s history of repayment of debt over the years, and it’s attitudes toward its fellow EU neighbor, Greece\u2026<\/p>\n

…In brief, Piketty tells the interviewer in no uncertain terms that Germany never repaid their loans; yet hold others to a higher standard of responsibility.<\/p>\n

\n

ZEIT: But shouldn\u2019t they repay their debts? <\/p>\n

Piketty: My book recounts the history of income and wealth, including that of nations. What struck me while I was writing is that Germany is really the single best example of a country that, throughout its history, has never repaid its external debt. Neither after the First nor the Second World War. However, it has frequently made other nations pay up, such as after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, when it demanded massive reparations from France and indeed received them. The French state suffered for decades under this debt. The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Please Mr. Piketty, tell us all how you really feel….  And don’t hold back!  Piketty goes on to give examples of moral clarity about just how Germany is hypocritical in its position of having been the perfect financial responsible citizen throughout history…  But not so fast says Piketty:<\/p>\n

\n

Piketty: When I hear the Germans say that they maintain a very moral stance about debt and strongly believe that debts must be repaid, then I think: what a huge joke! Germany is the country that has never repaid its debts. It has no standing to lecture other nations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ouch. <\/p>\n

This is what I brought up before regarding Germany’s hypocrisy.<\/font><\/p>\n

From The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font>Serving notice that he intends to go toe-to-toe with the controversial real-estate mogul, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker used the official announcement of his Presidential candidacy to assure Republican voters that he is as horrible as Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump has grabbed a lot of headlines over the past few weeks by spewing bigotry and venom,\u201d Walker told an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. \u201cI want to make it clear that when it comes to those things, I take a back seat to no one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concluding his speech with a line that triggered a standing ovation, Walker said, \u201cTo those who thought Donald Trump was the only sociopath in the race, let me say this: not anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to his announcement, aides to the Wisconsin governor had privately fretted that by establishing his identity as an arrogant and ill-informed merchant of hatred, Trump had appropriated Walker\u2019s brand\u2026<\/p>\n

It’s been so long that Andy really had me worried. He’s back in prime form, pegging the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan perfectly!<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>…But on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union,\u201d Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, another Republican presidential candidate, sharply attacked Mr. Trump and his message and called on his party\u2019s chairman and other candidates to speak out against him.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump is a \u201cwrecking ball\u201d for the GOP as it tries to appeal to Hispanic voters, Mr. Graham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo all the candidates who think that Donald Trump is telling the truth, I think you have lost your way. As to the Republican Party, if we do not reject this way of thinking clearly, without any ambiguity, we will have lost our way,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will have lost the moral authority, in my view, to govern this great nation.\u201d…<\/p>\n

Lindsey Poo fears what already is. The Republican Party lost their moral authority to govern this nation the day they adopted the Southern Strategy and Republican Tinkle Down economics.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0713Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I did manage to get some sleep last night, and I also want to rest today, before things get busy again. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 3:02 (average 4:26).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From Daily Kos: In a blistering interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit, Piketty […]<\/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-15607","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\/15607","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=15607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}