{"id":21416,"date":"2016-04-25T14:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T21:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=21416"},"modified":"2016-04-25T14:00:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T21:00:26","slug":"open-thread-4252016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/25\/open-thread-4252016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–4\/25\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know why I’ve been feeling lethargic, but after doing my morning research, I needed to take a nap, so I\u2019m running late again, and still feeling tired.  My green cloud is gathering strength.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 2:46 (average 4:04).  To do it click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>In other states, Sam Brownback’s Kansas revolution is still being treated as a model for pared down government, but those close to ground zero are a bit less enthused.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

… many of the same Republicans who helped pass Brownback’s plan are in open revolt, refusing to help the governor cut spending so he can avoid rolling back any of his signature tax measures.<\/p>\n

If Brownback won’t reconsider any of the tax cuts, they say, he will have to figure out for himself how to balance the budget in the face of disappointing revenue.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Brownback sold the state on a flood tide worth of trickle down tax cuts, arguing that massive reductions would spur a surge of growth in the state and actually generate increased revenue. Instead, Kansas got a huge budget shortfall, education cuts, service cuts, and still more debt as top Republican economists proved for the nth time that they’re simply wrong. Oh, and instead of rocketing growth Kansas has actually underperformed neighboring states.  <\/p>\n

When Republicans are in charge the only thing that trickles down onto the poor and middle classes is urine.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Even as his chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination slip away, Senator Bernie Sanders<\/a> and his allies are trying to use his popularity to expand his political influence, setting up an ideological struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party in the post-Obama era.<\/p>\n

Aides to Mr. Sanders have been pressing party officials for a significant role in drafting the platform for the Democratic convention in July, aiming to lock in strong planks on issues like a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, breaking up Wall Street banks and banning natural gas \u201cfracking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering all the effort Bernie is making to transform the Democratic Party, those who would abandon the Party, if Bernie loses, would be working against Bernie.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, elected last fall, campaigned on a promise that his Liberal government would legalize marijuana. Now, we’re getting an idea of just when that is going to happen.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs Wednesday, Canadian Health Minister Jane Philpott said the government will introduce legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana in spring 2017.<\/p>\n

Does this mean our beloved Squatch will be getting even loonier? \"Angel\"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0425Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know why I’ve been feeling lethargic, but after doing my morning research, I needed to take a nap, so I\u2019m running late again, and still feeling tired.  My green cloud is gathering strength. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 2:46 (average 4:04).  To do it click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: […]<\/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-21416","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\/21416","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=21416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}