{"id":22185,"date":"2016-06-01T14:17:20","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T21:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=22185"},"modified":"2016-06-02T09:19:41","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T16:19:41","slug":"open-thread-612016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/01\/open-thread-612016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 6\/1\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

I'm running quite late today.  I changed the Poll, collected the data for and made all the graphics for tomorrow's Monthly Report.  I spent over an hour holding for and fighting with UPS, because my new keyboard and mouse combo was shopped two-day air on 5\/23 and they still haven't delivered it.  Save the Post Office!!  Julie was here and she primped the puddy tat.  She have me a report on Killer Dawg<\/em>, who, if you remember is a Chihuahua-Terrier mix.  Last Weekend I gave him a bowl  of γ\u03adεννα chili.  He liked it, but later, neighbors thought they heard someone playing a tuba badly. \"Angel\"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today's took me 4:06 (average 5:09).  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 theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking angered supporters of Donald J. Trump on Monday by responding to a question about the billionaire with a baffling array of long words.<\/p>\n

Speaking to a television interviewer in London, Hawking called Trump “a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator,” a statement that many Trump supporters believed was intentionally designed to confuse them.<\/p>\n

Moments after Hawking made the remark, Google reported a sharp increase in searches for the terms “demagogue,” “denominator,” and “Stephen Hawking.”<\/p>\n

“For a so-called genius, this was an epic fail,” Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said. “If Professor Hawking wants to do some damage, maybe he should try talking in English next time.”<\/p>\n

LOL!! Andy knows that any word over one syllable is a stretch for Bubba Bagger. Three is virtually out of reach!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Gov. Jerry Brown of California has run three times for president. He is serving his fourth term as governor and stands as one of the most popular elected officials in the state.<\/p>\n

He has also kept a noticeably low profile as the Democratic presidential primary contest has moved to California, reflecting what aides described as the interest he had in both candidates.<\/p>\n

But that ended on Tuesday as the Democratic governor came off the sideline and endorsed Hillary Clinton<\/a> as someone who has the “tenacity and skill to advance the Democratic agenda” and defeat the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n

That surprises me. I would have thought Governor Moonbeam would back Bernie.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>On the subject of Social Security Trump has made his opposition to cuts in the program a stock part of his campaign repertoire. He boasts about his support for it despite being at variance with the official stance of the Republican Party. Paul Ryan, the GOP Speaker of the House of Representatives, has been proposing cuts and\/or privatization for Social Security and Medicare for years.<\/p>\n

Republicans have been taking heat for their eagerness to make seniors pay for the deficit that they ran up with tax cuts for the rich and two wars. Now they are understandably worried about being seen again as the enemies of Social Security, one of the most popular government programs in history.<\/p>\n

Which begs the question: Is Trump really committed to preserving the benefits of Social Security? He recently met with Ryan in a widely publicized attempt to smooth over their differences as he became the presumptive GOP nominee for president. Neither of them disclosed the details of their discussion or any new areas of agreement. However, news is beginning to leak out from others who were in attendance. A source has told Bloomberg BusinessWeek<\/a> that Trump's promise to protect Social Security may not be particularly trustworthy. With regard to cutting benefits in order to reduce the deficit, Trump said…<\/p>\n

\n

"From a moral standpoint, I believe in it," Trump told Ryan. "But you also have to get elected. And there’s no way a Republican is going to beat a Democrat when the Republican is saying, 'We’re going to cut your Social Security' and the Democrat is saying, 'We’re going to keep it and give you more.' "<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What better reason could there be to…<\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

\"0601Cartoon\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I'm running quite late today.  I changed the Poll, collected the data for and made all the graphics for tomorrow's Monthly Report.  I spent over an hour holding for and fighting with UPS, because my new keyboard and mouse combo was shopped two-day air on 5\/23 and they still haven't delivered it.  Save the Post […]<\/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-22185","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\/22185","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=22185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}