{"id":18590,"date":"2015-12-26T09:15:03","date_gmt":"2015-12-26T17:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=18590"},"modified":"2015-12-26T09:15:03","modified_gmt":"2015-12-26T17:15:03","slug":"open-thread12262015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/26\/open-thread12262015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–12\/26\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday was an enjoyable holiday.  I did quite a bit of cooking for a friend, but only wore George for the time I needed to stand up.  I made ham steaks, cheese mashed potatoes, assorted fresh veggies, fresh pears, and store-bought pumpkin pie.  Then I ate moderately enough to keep my blood sugar below 120.  I was pretty pleased with myself.  For the next couple days I want to rest up, as my desk will be replaced with a smaller unit on Monday, and I have both PT and OT coming Tuesday.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:10 (average 6:02).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a> (best of 2015): <\/font>The most racist areas in the United States<\/p>\n

\"1226racismmap\"<\/p>\n

I did not realize the extent to which parts of the Midwest and Northeast are even more racist than large parts of the South.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Foreign arms sales by the United States jumped by almost $10 billion in 2014, about 35 percent, even as the global weapons market remained flat and competition among suppliers increased, a new congressional study has found.<\/p>\n

American weapons receipts rose to $36.2 billion in 2014 from $26.7 billion the year before, bolstered by multibillion-dollar agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Those deals and others ensured that the United States remained the single largest provider of arms around the world last year, controlling just over 50 percent of the market.<\/p>\n

Isn’t it sad that death is a key and growing US export?<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: ‘Wack Flag.’<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was Jon Stewart\u2019s final season at "The Daily Show," which dismayed many yet made for plenty of memorable moments. After terrorist Dylann Roof murdered nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, the team over at Fox News couldn\u2019t wait to take to the airwaves to criticize those who dared label the crime for what it was. Sean Hannity even took a moment to self-righteously call discussion of Roof\u2019s hate crime and calls for gun control a leftist agenda-advancing \u201csickness.\u201d \u201cYes, it\u2019s a sickness, this rush to use tragedy to advance your narrative,\u201d Stewart responded. \u201cCombine that with an inability for self examination, an almost comical degree of self-exculpatory rhetoric, flag pins, a little bit of leg, and a complete immunity to irony: you got yourself a full-blown case of Fox-abetes.\u201d Then he showed footage of how Fox anchors responded to the killing of two New York City cops weeks earlier (spoiler: it involves a lot of blaming Obama, Mayor Bill de Blasio and suggestions of racism), as glorious a display of hypocrisy as has ever been on television.<\/p>\n