{"id":22474,"date":"2016-06-19T10:18:12","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T17:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=22474"},"modified":"2016-06-19T10:18:12","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T17:18:12","slug":"open-thread-6192016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/19\/open-thread-6192016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 6\/19\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow I undergo my first of two outpatient surgeries for ocular cancer.  The second will be on Friday.  Lynn, our beloved Sasquatch, will be doing the Open Threads until I can return, and she and Nameless will be managing the site. I do hope to make a brief appearance at least once a day.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:51 (average 4:45).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>President Obama, Hillary Clinton<\/a> and other Democrats are rallying around proposals to expand Social Security and increase benefits, a sea change after three decades dominated by concern over the program\u2019s rising costs.<\/p>\n

The Democrats\u2019 new consensus was driven by the populist election-year politics of Senator Bernie Sanders<\/a> and by a realization that many workers have neither traditional pensions nor any significant retirement savings.<\/p>\n

Thank you Bernie! At the outset we didn’t dream you could go so far.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>With Donald Trump\u2019s poll numbers sinking into a death spiral<\/a>, dozens of Republican delegates are now openly plotting a coup to overthrow him at this year\u2019s Republican National Convention.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post has scored an interview<\/a> with GOP delegates who are leading the effort to allow delegates to vote their consciences at this year\u2019s RNC so they can choose someone other than Trump. The rule change would allow delegates to unbind themselves based on \u201cpersonal or religious conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

That’s transparent election theft.  I think the response of the Trump Humpers would be armed mayhem. Rump Dump has won the Republican nomination fair and square. He has a right to represent the Party that chose him at the ballot box, however abhorrent I consider him.<\/font><\/p>\n

From TPM<\/a>: <\/font>During her speech at the New Hampshire Democratic party’s convention on Saturday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) continued her attacks on Donald Trump, calling him a "thin-skinned, racist bully."<\/p>\n

"Donald Trump says he likes to see women on their knees," she told the crowd, according to NBC News<\/a>. "Well, Donald, that’s not happening. Can you believe this guy? Democrats believe in equal pay for equal work and a woman’s right to decisions over her own body. And we’re ready to fight for it."<\/p>\n

The Democratic senator also brought up the lawsuit over Trump University.<\/p>\n

"Now Trump University failed, and that’s no surprise," Warren said, according to NBC News. "Think about all the other Trump failures. Trump casinos. Trump Airlines. Trump steaks. Trump magazines. Trump vodka. Trump Mortgage. Trump Games. Trump Travel. Trump Ice. Trump Network. Donald Trump is a proven businessman \u2014 a proven failure."<\/p>\n

Warren said that Trump should be shaking "in his high-priced Italian loafers, begging the court to protect him, terrified about what happens if those videos go public and he is held accountable."<\/p>\n

Keep it up, Lizzie!! You are still a national treasure.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0619Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow I undergo my first of two outpatient surgeries for ocular cancer.  The second will be on Friday.  Lynn, our beloved Sasquatch, will be doing the Open Threads until I can return, and she and Nameless will be managing the site. I do hope to make a brief appearance at least once a day. Jig […]<\/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-22474","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\/22474","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=22474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}