{"id":19859,"date":"2016-02-10T14:04:09","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T22:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=19859"},"modified":"2016-02-10T14:04:09","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T22:04:09","slug":"open-thread2102016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/open-thread2102016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–2\/10\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m running late, because I had several tasks to complete this morning, leaving little time to write.  I\u2019m also waiting for a grocery order to arrive and have to put those items away.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 3:06 (average 5:55).  To do it click here<\/a>.  How did you do?\\<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>By law, dating back to 1921, the president of the United States must submit an annual budget request to Congress. On Tuesday, President Obama submitted his eighth and final budget. And like all presidential budgets, it is a statement of values and priorities, a blueprint for turning ideas into policies, a map of where the president wants to lead the country.<\/p>\n

This week, even before the president\u2019s budget was released, the Republican chairmen of the budget committees announced they would not even hold hearings with the White House budget director to discuss the proposal.<\/p>\n

Their decision is more than a break with tradition. It is a new low in Republican efforts to show disdain for Mr. Obama, which disrespects the presidency and, in the process, suffocates debate and impairs governing.<\/p>\n

The dismal consequences of Republican failure to govern has to be blamed on Republicans, not Obama or Democrats.<\/font><\/p>\n

From The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font>After suffering a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night, the former Hewlett-Packard C.E.O. Carly Fiorina cheered herself up by firing her entire campaign staff, fired staffers confirm.<\/p>\n

Minutes after the returns started coming in, revealing that Fiorina had no chance of making a respectable showing, the former business executive acknowledged that she was \u201csad at first\u2014but then I realized that every failure is an opportunity, and in this case I had an opportunity to give some people the axe.\u201d<\/p>\n

After delivering pink slips to her entire campaign staff, Fiorina said, \u201cI started feeling better already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy has pegged her heart of stone. People I knew in HP’s research department used to call her the Bankrupt Bitch.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crooks and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>After the 2016 New Hampshire primaries called Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders<\/a> the winners, Steve Schmidt came on MSNBC to lend his expert political analysis to explain how this happened. Unfortunately, the former senior John McCain campaign advisor confused Trump’s campaign beliefs with Marco Rubio’s and Rachel Maddow immediately pounced to correct his very flawed opinions. <\/p>\n

Barf Bag Alert!!<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n