{"id":19463,"date":"2016-01-28T13:02:42","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=19463"},"modified":"2016-01-28T13:02:42","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:02:42","slug":"open-thread1282016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/28\/open-thread1282016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–1\/28\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning, when I awakened, I found that the elevator is now working, so the dreaded task is now done, and I\u2019m pooped.  Unfortunately, now I\u2019m too sore and tired to make half a dozen meals, which was today\u2019s chore.  My helper friend has disappeared again as she sometimes does.  She was supposed to be here Tuesday and did not show up, and I have been unable to reach her since.  That\u2019s frustrating!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 5:19 (average 7:00).  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>Millions of Americans are expressing their resentment and outrage at being put in the appalling position of siding with the Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, a state of affairs that many are calling \u201cintolerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever in a million years did I envision a situation where I would be on the same side as Megyn Kelly,\u201d Tracy Klugian, of Butte, Montana, said. \u201cNow that I find myself in just such a situation, let me say this: it\u2019s horrible. Truly horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting people through the ordeal of siding with Megyn Kelly could be the worst thing Donald Trump has done in this campaign,\u201d Jervis Kentwell, of Norwalk, Connecticut, said. \u201cI know he thinks he\u2019s invulnerable or whatever, but it\u2019s hard to see him recovering from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy is so right! I may sue Hateful Hairball over the pain and suffering it has caused me.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>The latest massive offense the Obama administration has done to Wall Street is to come up with a rule telling financial services companies that their first duty is to their clients. That’s such an offensive requirement, Republicans in Congress have even been trying to derail it. Because nothing should stand in the way of profits for Wall Street, including the nest eggs of senior citizens. To prove how awful the whole idea is, American International Group Inc. (AIG)  decided they had to sell off<\/a>, admitting that if they can’t screw old people out of money, then why bother?<\/p>\n

\n

"It\u2019s a business we are not the best owner of, particularly in the light of potential Department of Labor rules," [CEO Peter] Hancock said Tuesday in a conference call updating investors on AIG’s strategy. "With the new DOL rules, that was a big factor in thinking whether this was better owned by somebody independent of us." [\u2026] <\/p>\n

Hancock said the broker-dealer network earned about $40 million in 2014, yet consumed a "disproportionate amount" of AIG’s compliance cost.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Considering that the taxpayers of America loaned AIG over $67 billion in TARP funds to keep them out of bankruptcy, their attitude that they don\u2019t want to play, unless they are allowed to rip-off seniors can best be described as Republican.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>A series of expos\u00e9s released this week shed further light on an often-overlooked form of war profiteering: charity organizations that raise millions of dollars under the auspices of serving wounded military veterans, only to inappropriately spend those funds.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the Wounded Warrior Project is under the microscope, with a New York Times investigation finding that the well-heeled organization has spent \u201cmillions a year on travel, dinners, hotels and conferences that often seemed more lavish than appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such spending is no small matter, notes journalist David Philipps, as the charity \u201chas evolved into a fund-raising giant, taking in more than $372 million in 2015 alone\u2014largely through small donations from people over 65.\u201d In fact, according to Philipps, the group is the largest and most rapidly-expanding organization in the country.<\/p>\n

I’ve been emotionally tempted to give to them on a couple of occasions. I’m glad that I didn’t. Isn’t it a shame that Republicans have infested secular charities and are just as corrupt as they have been for ages in pseudo-Christian charities?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0128Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, when I awakened, I found that the elevator is now working, so the dreaded task is now done, and I\u2019m pooped.  Unfortunately, now I\u2019m too sore and tired to make half a dozen meals, which was today\u2019s chore.  My helper friend has disappeared again as she sometimes does.  She was supposed to be […]<\/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-19463","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\/19463","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=19463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}