{"id":15870,"date":"2015-08-19T14:11:41","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T21:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15870"},"modified":"2015-08-19T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T21:11:41","slug":"open-thread8192015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/19\/open-thread8192015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–8\/19\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s another very hot very humid day.  After today, we should get two temperate days, before the 90\u00b0+ weather returns on Saturday.  Yesterday afternoon, I learned that my friend with cancer was in recovery, after a successful mastectomy.  I feel quite relieved about that.  Store to Door delivered groceries early.  I have them put away.  Now, if I can just stay conscious until after my articles are up and out, it\u2019s A\/C hunker time again.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 2:21 (average 4:24).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font><\/p>\n

On the evening of August 6th, when the news broke that Senator Charles Schumer would vote against the Iran accord, the Democratic Senate leader, Harry Reid, was as stunned as the rest of his caucus. The two men are close friends. When Reid became the leader, in 2005, Schumer was a backbencher, who mused about running for governor of New York. Reid took an interest in him, came to rely on both his fund-raising prowess with Wall Street and his counsel on a range of matters, and always advised his ambitious prot\u00e9g\u00e9, \u201cBe patient, be patient.\u201d Last March, when Reid announced that he would retire at the end of 2016, he endorsed Schumer to succeed him and announced that another contender, Richard Durbin, the Democratic whip (and Schumer\u2019s former roommate), would stand down. For those progressives who questioned whether Schumer should be leader, Reid said that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders would keep the caucus honest. Now, because of Schumer\u2019s position as presumptive leader, Reid felt that Schumer should have informed him of his decision on the Iran deal, given its importance, according to a Senate aide. Still, when a White House official called Reid that night to ask if he would announce his support of the deal to counter Schumer\u2019s opposition, Reid refused, saying he wasn\u2019t ready, a close associate said. (A spokesman for Senator Reid later issued a statement denying that Reid was surprised by Schumer\u2019s announcement. \u201cTheir relationship is as close as ever. On Iran, Senator Reid respects the decision of conscience Senator Schumer made and he did not raise concerns with the announcement or the timing.\u201d)*<\/p>\n

More than a week has passed, and Reid still wonders why Schumer decided to announce his opposition when he did. Schumer was the first Democratic senator to oppose the deal. And it was his timing, perhaps even more than the substance of his decision, that has upset his pro-deal colleagues and, most unmistakably, the White House. Josh Earnest, the President\u2019s press secretary, said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if some members of the Senate Democratic caucus \u201cconsider the voting record of those who say they would like to lead the caucus,\u201d and he went on to liken Schumer\u2019s decision to oppose the Iran deal to his support for the Iraq War, in 2003. It always seemed implausible that Schumer\u2014an AIPAC stalwart who boasted that he is Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s best friend on Capitol Hill\u2014would oppose AIPAC and Netanyahu on a deal they both claim is an existential threat to Israel. (I have written about AIPAC\u2019s influence<\/a> on politicians for the magazine.) \u201cChuck was always among the least likely Democrats to support the deal,\u201d a longtime close friend of Schumer\u2019s told me. And, after Schumer\u2019s announcement, Durbin said, \u201cI always expected him to be against the agreement.\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

Click through for the rest of this highly informative piece. If your Senator(s) are Democrats, call them regularly to tell them to strip this Bankster-bought traitor of any and all party leadership positions.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Russians are experiencing the first sustained decline in living standards in the 15 years since President Vladimir V. Putin [R-RU] came to power. The ruble has fallen by half against the dollar, driven by the plunging price of oil, the lifeblood of Russia\u2019s economy. As a result, prices of imported goods have shot up, making tea, instant coffee, children\u2019s clothes and back-to-school backpacks suddenly, jarringly expensive.<\/p>\n

The Russian people are learning first hand the steep price they have to pay for putting a Republican in charge of their nation.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>Ann Coulter knows who she wants to be the Democratic nominee for president, and who that person is, well, it may surprise you<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She wants Hillary Clinton to be the nominee, and thinks that if Bernie gets the nod, he’ll beat whoever the Republicans come up with to run against him.<\/p>\n

You won’t hear me say this often, but Ann Coulter is right.<\/p>\n

If Bernie Sanders ends up being the Democratic nominee for president, and it looks more and more every day like he will be, his Republican opponent is going to have a very hard time beating him.<\/p>\n

And that’s because of all the Democratic candidates running, Bernie Sanders has the best chance of capturing Republican votes.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen how Bernie does this, up close and personal.<\/p>\n

Despite its reputation as a place filled with liberal hippies, Vermont, like most of rural northern New England, is home to a lot of conservatives.<\/p>\n

Anyone running for statewide office there needs to win these conservatives’ votes, and Bernie is great at doing that.<\/p>\n

As much as I’d like to echo this author’s optimism, northern NH Republicans are more like the old time back woods Republicans<\/font> that were somewhat progressive in their views and opposed to the old time Dixiecrats, that now hold the Republican Party in thrall. To get lots of Republican support, nationwide, Bernie would have to convince a lot of willfully ignorant voters, too lazy to want to learn, not to be afraid of media-hyped "Socialism". That’s a tall order, not because Bernie lacks skill, but because he would be trying to plow a swamp.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0819Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s another very hot very humid day.  After today, we should get two temperate days, before the 90\u00b0+ weather returns on Saturday.  Yesterday afternoon, I learned that my friend with cancer was in recovery, after a successful mastectomy.  I feel quite relieved about that.  Store to Door delivered groceries early.  I have them put away.  […]<\/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-15870","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\/15870","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=15870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}