{"id":21276,"date":"2016-04-15T07:53:58","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=21276"},"modified":"2016-04-15T07:53:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:53:58","slug":"open-thread-4152016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/15\/open-thread-4152016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–4\/15\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Color me rushing to get this up, before I have to leave,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 2:42 (average 4:32).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Getting attention today: The court case in which Republican now-presidential candidate Ted Cruz, then the Texas solicitor general, ferociously defended the state’s law barring the sale of dildos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The brief insisted that Texas in order to protect "public morals" had  "police-power interests" in "discouraging prurient interests in sexual gratification, combating the commercial sale of sex, and protecting minors." There was a  "government" interest, it maintained, in "discouraging…autonomous sex." The brief compared the use of sex toys with "hiring a willing prostitute or engaging in consensual bigamy," and it equated advertising these products with the commercial promotion of prostitution. In perhaps the most noticeable line of the brief, Cruz’s office declared, "There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one’s genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Cruz lost, with a federal appeals court opining that the state had no legal business telling people what they could and couldn’t do in their own bedrooms.<\/p>\n

I wonder if Cruz had his dildo, his TRUS, up his butt when he wrote that brief,<\/font><\/p>\n

From The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font>Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, stirred controversy on Thursday by saying in a televised interview that he had no recollection of running for President of the United States.<\/p>\n

Appearing on the Fox News Channel, Dr. Carson responded to host Sean Hannity\u2019s question about his ten-month-long candidacy by saying, \u201cI do not recall any of that occurring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told that I did it, but I find it impossible to believe,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d forget a thing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Carson said he had seen photographs and videos of him campaigning for the Republican nomination but called them \u201cthe work of an evil person who is really good at PhotoShop and whatnot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here’s why, Andy!! Uncle Token has been brain dead, ever since he operated on himself.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crooks and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>Bernie Sanders gave a spirited closing argument for why he believes he’s the best candidate for the Democratic nomination. <\/p>\n