{"id":19070,"date":"2016-01-15T10:54:53","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T18:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=19070"},"modified":"2016-01-15T10:54:53","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T18:54:53","slug":"open-thread1152016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/15\/open-thread1152016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–1\/15\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I was overly tired for some reason.  I went to the building community meeting.  They are outlawing window air conditioning Un its, because one fell from a window and barely missed a passer by.  I will have to get a free standing A\/C with a tube that vents through a window kit.  ARGH!  Today I have PT, OT and the bath-aide all coming. so I have another busy day on tap.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 2:46 (Average 5:28).  Top do it click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From HRC<\/a>: <\/font>Following the publication this week of a commentary by Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, in which he boasts of being \u201cproud\u201d to lead an institution that sought a waiver from the government so that it could discriminate against transgender people, Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation\u2019s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, released the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Piper\u2019s assertions are despicable, but, sadly, not surprising, given his track record of working with anti-LGBT organizations like the World Congress of Families [GOP Hate delinked<\/em>]. Piper should be ashamed. Imagine what it feels like to be a young LGBT student at Oklahoma Wesleyan University and hearing the president of your school publicly disparage you in this way. His astonishingly callous response to revelations that he sought the right to discriminate against his own students is not only stomach-turning, but anathema to the role of an educational leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his piece defending the university\u2019s decision to request an exemption to existing civil rights law in order to discriminate against LGBT students on religious grounds, Piper used the same bigoted and hateful language that is his stock-in-trade: referring to transgender people as a \u201chuman fabrication,\u201d and non-discrimination efforts as \u201cmisogyny.\u201d<\/p>\n

I fully agree with Chad Griffin. All people deserve equal rights.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>In an explosive new piece<\/a>, the New York Times reports that Republican Sen.Ted Cruz failed to disclose a six-figure loan from Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank where his wife Heidi works, that he used to support his successful upset bid for Senate back in 2012. Cruz was required to report the loan (and another similar one from Citibank)\u2014which may have been worth as much as $500,000\u2014in filings with the Federal Elections Commission but never did so.<\/p>\n

Instead, he reported putting some $1.2 million in unspecified "personal funds\u201d into his campaign, claiming to the Times several years ago that he and his wife had \u201cliquidated our entire net worth\u201d to support his quest for public office. This turns out to have been a deception, uncovered because Cruz later filed personal financial disclosures with the Senate that detailed the two low-interest loans.<\/p>\n

In the face of such blatant criminal activity, Uranus Inspector should be deported to his birth country,<\/font><\/p>\n

From YouTube<\/a> (H\/T MoveOn): <\/font><\/p>\n