{"id":18003,"date":"2015-12-18T04:10:44","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T12:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=18003"},"modified":"2015-12-18T11:41:03","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T19:41:03","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-17122015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/18\/squatchs-open-thread-17122015\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch\u2019s Open Thread 17\/12\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I had pictures of bright sunny skies and snowcapped mountains from around my house.  Today there was only a shroud of fog and gloom.  While I was enjoying a lunch with some lady friends, I looked up and it was snowing. Later, the snow turned to rain.  Tonight, we are likely to get freezing rain again and perhaps some snow.  When I came home, it was time for a cat nap.  Lona, I certainly enjoy your cat naps!<\/span><\/p>\n

Puzzle<\/strong> — Today’s took me 3:02 (average 5:05). To do it, <\/span>click here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Nation<\/span><\/a> <\/strong>— “There is stunning potential here,” said Gen. David Petraeus, then the head of US Central Command, speaking to The New York Times<\/em>. US officials said that the deposits could sustain the Afghan economy and generate thousands of jobs, reducing corruption and reliance on foreign aid. Currently, with 60 percent of the country’s budget provided by foreign donors, outside investment is crucial. Acknowledging the inability of the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum to handle a burgeoning resource industry, the US government pledged to help implement accountability mechanisms. However, regulations like the mining law—revised in 2014 to bring greater transparency—have had little effect on illegal mining and the non-payment of royalties.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The warning signs were there. “This is a country that has no mining culture,” Jack Medlin, a geologist in the US Geological Survey’s international-affairs program, told the Times<\/em>. During my visit to Afghanistan in May, I often heard from locals that the resource industry was never going to provide enough money to support the economy once foreign aid dried up. Afghan mining expert Javed Noorani told The Nation<\/em> that President Ashraf Ghani is “more constrained in his actions against the criminal networks operating in the mining sector than President [Hamid] Karzai was. Today there is open plunder of gemstones by the partners in his government …<\/p>\n

Sitting atop a vast store of minerals and gemstones, Afghanistan is unable, and perhaps unwilling, to effectively manage its resources.  When foreign aid comes to a halt and there is insufficient to support the country, what will happen to Afghanistan?  Will it descend into civil war, with countries like China coming in to pick up the pieces?<\/span><\/p>\n

Daily Beast<\/span><\/a> <\/strong>— A small European nation has stepped up where the Republican establishment, Beltway pundits and more than a dozen presidential candidates have failed.<\/p>\n

Scotland<\/a> is kicking Donald Trump’s butt.<\/p>\n

Last week Scotland’s leader, Nicola Sturgeon, stripped Trump of his long-held ambassadorial role for the country of his ancestors. Today, her predecessor publicly denounced him as a “loser.”<\/p>\n

Trump is a perfect example of how not<\/strong><\/em> to win friends and influence enemies!  Go Scotland!<\/span><\/p>\n

Politicususa<\/span><\/a><\/strong> — It was bound to happen sooner rather than later, but although everyone knew it was coming it was still a little disconcerting to hear an official Nazi call for idol worship and victory at a political rally for the Republican frontrunner for the party’s presidential nomination. Even though the candidate is running a campaign founded on hate, fear, and anger that America is not an Aryan Christian nation, or a fascist dictatorship, it is now clear that Donald Trump’s supporters know his plan for America mirrors Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler’s rule; and they are wild for its implementation.  …<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"lead_960\"<\/p>\n

It is disgusting that all of this racial animus and fond memories of Adolf Hitler and Nazi’s Aryan dream cannot be laid solely at the feet of Donald Trump. He owns the recent incitement to violence against people of color and the wrong religion, and the blatant embrace of Hitler’s Nazi tactics, but it is years of Republican indoctrination and hate-mongering about Hispanics, African Americans, and now Muslims destroying “white” America at the heart of the violence.<\/p>\n

"…Donald Trump’s supporters know his plan for America mirrors Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler’s rule; and they are wild for its implementation."  Do they not know that Hitler lost his war?  Seventy-three years ago, a matter of 3 or 4 generations, Americans were engaged in a war to defeat Hitler and fascism.  To use a paraphrase of George Santayana, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.<\/strong>"<\/span><\/p>\n

My Universe<\/strong><\/span> —<\/p>\n

\"Furbabies<\/a>My oldest boy, Primo, who thinks he is lord of the manor.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Furbabies<\/a>My youngest boy by 4 minutes only, Winnie, who I also call "my son, the doctor"!<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Furbabies<\/a>My little girl, Annie, who is 4.5 months younger than the boys.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I had pictures of bright sunny skies and snowcapped mountains from around my house.  Today there was only a shroud of fog and gloom.  While I was enjoying a lunch with some lady friends, I looked up and it was snowing. Later, the snow turned to rain.  Tonight, we are likely to get freezing rain […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-politics","category-35-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\/18003","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}