{"id":22146,"date":"2016-05-29T13:56:39","date_gmt":"2016-05-29T20:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=22146"},"modified":"2016-05-29T13:56:39","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T20:56:39","slug":"open-thread-5292016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/29\/open-thread-5292016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread 5\/29\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Except for writing, I think I’m going to take a lazy day.  I earned it!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:00 (average 5:10).  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>The I.G.\u2019s eighty-three page report<\/a>, \u201cOffice of the Secretary: Evaluation of Email Records Management and Cybersecurity Requirements,\u201d is one of the more comprehensive examinations the government has ever issued on proper document-retention habits in the federal bureaucracy. Skip to page forty-two if you want the scintillating conclusion:<\/p>\n

\n

Longstanding, systemic weaknesses related to electronic records and communications have existed within the Office of the Secretary that go well beyond the tenure of any one Secretary of State<\/strong>. OIG recognizes that technology and Department policy have evolved considerably since Secretary Albright\u2019s tenure began in 1997. Nevertheless, the Department generally and the Office of the Secretary in particular have been slow to recognize and to manage effectively the legal requirements and cybersecurity risks associated with electronic data communications, particularly as those risks pertain to its most senior leadership. OIG expects that its recommendations will move the Department steps closer to meaningfully addressing these risks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s it. Clinton, like some of her predecessors, especially Colin Powell, flouted departmental regulations on the use of private e-mail, and she was careless about cybersecurity. In the pantheon of Clinton scandals, the I.G. report, in terms of actual malfeasance, ranks somewhere below running the health-care task force of the mid-nineties in secret and above making a lopsided profit on the cattle-future markets while she was First Lady of Arkansas<\/strong>. [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n

As I, and most other progressives, that are far more acclaimed than I, including Bernie Sanders and most of his supporters, except for a small desperate fringe, have repeatedly stated, this is nothing but tempest in a tea pot.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/strong><\/font>As they sliced and diced state programs this month to close a budget deficit, Republicans controlling the Oklahoma Legislature cruelly targeted some of the state\u2019s most vulnerable citizens \u2014 the working poor \u2014 by cutting an average $147 a year from the income of 200,000 households.<\/p>\n

This may seem negligible to the state\u2019s wealthy and middle class, but not to a poor family with a breadwinner struggling at the margins. The method chosen is deplorable \u2014 cutting the state share of the earned-income tax credit for low-income workers, a federal program widely praised as an effective lift from poverty. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most valuable antipoverty programs on the books today,\u201d Carl Davis, research director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told The Tulsa World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After years of enacting generous tax cuts for the wealthy and for the powerful oil industry, however, the Oklahoma Legislature was facing falling revenues and resorted to an assortment of questionable cuts to close a $1.3 billion deficit. None is more regressive than penalizing the working poor. It will net an estimated $29 million for the state coffers while cutting $312 for a family with three or more children and a parent earning $13,850 a year. The federal earned-income credit program, based on income and family size, is not affected; only the state share is being cut.<\/p>\n

Failin’ Fallin Farted.<\/font><\/p>\n

From The Topeka Capital Journal<\/a>: <\/font>SCOTUS appointments should come before free college, everybody getting free healthcare, and equal rights for women and gays.<\/p>\n

How could a progressive say such a thing?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good question because all those things are seriously important to me and I hope to you, too.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve heard from various sources is that the next president may appoint anywhere from 2 to 4 new SCOTUS members.<\/p>\n

\u2026.small pause for that to sink in\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026Bernie voters, a message for you\u2026 you may truly dislike Hillary Clinton\u2026 but you know as well as I do she won\u2019t push the SCOTUS further right.<\/p>\n

And if we ever get free college, free healthcare, full democratic rights for gays and women\u2026. a far right SCOTUS can make or break it, just like they did ACA. Don\u2019t think a conservative SCOTUS won\u2019t do it. Trump will assure with his SCOTUS nomination that any progress Democrats try to make in the future would be shot down.  A member of the SCOTUS serves until death if he or she wants to stay there.  This decision can have harsh consequences far into our future.<\/p>\n

Even in the oppressed state of Kansas, progressives know that this election will decide whether the Supreme Court becomes SCOTUS or remains SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD) for decades to come.  There could there be no better reason to…<\/font><\/p>\n

Vote Blue No Matter Who<\/font><\/font><\/h1>\n

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

\"0529Cartoon\"<\/p>\n

Depose the Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan!<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Except for writing, I think I’m going to take a lazy day.  I earned it! Jig Zone Puzzle: Today’s took me 3:00 (average 5:10).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From The New Yorker:  The I.G.\u2019s eighty-three page report, \u201cOffice of the Secretary: Evaluation of Email Records Management and Cybersecurity […]<\/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-22146","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\/22146","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=22146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}