{"id":23387,"date":"2016-08-05T14:04:27","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T21:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=23387"},"modified":"2016-08-05T14:04:27","modified_gmt":"2016-08-05T21:04:27","slug":"open-thread-852016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/05\/open-thread-852016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread &#8211; 8\/5\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Pardon my brevity, but I have to go see my Physical Terrorist, Courtney the Inquisitor.&#160; I&#8217;ve been doing her exercises, but one set of them gives me cramps in stumpy, which abate in a couple minutes but are quite painful.&#160; This is today&#8217;s only article, but I am squeezing in an extra Short Take.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I&#8217;m back.&#160; I went on the big bus and negotiated the same crosswalk at which I injured myself two weeks ago due to poor vision.&#160; Knowing that the problem is there makes all the difference and I&#8217;m developing a strategy to assume such dangers wherever I go, so I&#8217;m prepared when one actually exists.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">When I saw JD&#8217;s Mug Shot (to be posted soon)&#160; I mentioned how my back would appreciate her claws.&#160; In today&#8217;s mail, I received back scratchers from JD!!&#160; Thanks Joanne!!<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Today&#8217;s took me 4:46 (average 6:44).&#160; To do it, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jigzone.com\/puzzles\/2016-08-05-CE2504A965A9\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.&#160; How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"http:\/\/kpdailyfunnies.blogspot.com\/2016\/08\/funny-or-die-donald-trump-pow.html\" target=\"_blank\">KP Daily Funnies<\/a>: <\/font>Funny or Die: Donald Trump: POW <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#ff0000\"><strong>Barf Bag Alert!!<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<p>&#160;<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"400\" src=\"\/\/www.funnyordie.com\/embed\/fa5f40034b\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" mozallowfullscreen=\"mozallowfullscreen\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"webkitallowfullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: x-small; width: 640px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left\"><a title=\"from Funny Or Die, Owen Burke\" href=\"http:\/\/www.funnyordie.com\/videos\/fa5f40034b\/donald-trump-pow\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump: POW<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.funnyordie.com\/funnyordie\" target=\"_blank\">Funny Or Die<\/a><\/div>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Since his election would not be funny, he would give is the other alternative: die.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.exposedbycmd.org\/2016\/07\/28\/revealed-aarp-funding-alec\/\" target=\"_blank\">Exposed by CMD<\/a>: <\/font><strong><em>CMD has launched a petition, calling on AARP to stop funding ALEC. You can sign the petition <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/o\/632\/p\/salsa\/web\/common\/public\/signup?signup_page_KEY=8341\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><strong><em><\/em><\/strong><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AARP, the non-profit seniors organization that exists to promote the financial security, pensions and healthcare of those over 50, is secretly funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization whose bills have acted against the interests of ordinary Americans, including retirees and their families.<\/p>\n<p>The Center for Media and Democracy has learned that AARP has recently joined ALEC, and that it is a named sponsor of the ALEC annual meeting taking place in Indianapolis, Indiana from July 27-29, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>AARP isn\u2019t exactly hiding its new financial relationship with ALEC, at least to ALEC legislators. Its logo appears in the conference brochure (see below) and attendees at the conference were each provided with an AARP branded portable USB power pack as they registered for the event.<\/p>\n<p>ALEC exists to help its corporate funders advance their lobbying agenda through pushing bills that ALEC peddles as national \u201cmodel\u201d legislation. As CMD has documented in numerous ways, ALEC is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prwatch.org\/files\/Ex._D_ALEC_sponsorship_rates.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">pay-to-play<\/a> operation.<\/p>\n<p>Since CMD launched ALECexposed in 2011, more than <a href=\"http:\/\/sourcewatch.org\/index.php?title=Corporations_that_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC\" target=\"_blank\">100 corporations<\/a> have quit the group, with many echoing Eric Schmidt of Google who told NPR as his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prwatch.org\/news\/2014\/09\/12605\/google-calls-alec-liars\" target=\"_blank\">company quit ALEC<\/a>: \u201cI think the consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake and so we\u2019re trying to not do that in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I quit AARP years ago, because I soon realized that the only service they were providing me was giving me the privilege to be SPAMMED relentlessly using email, phone and snail mail by their many &quot;partners&quot;. In my opinion AARP is a fraud. (After I wrote this, I received an email that AARP had stropped funding ALEC.&#160; I trust it was only because they were embarrassed at getting caught red handed.)&#160; My opinion is unchanged.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2016\/8\/3\/1555927\/-Donald-Trump-may-be-acting-crazy-but-it-s-keeping-the-news-away-from-the-one-story-he-wants-to-bury\" target=\"_blank\">Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>If there was any evidence Donald Trump was capable of thinking beyond the next moment, it would be easy to suspect that 90 percent of what\u2019s bubbled from his lips over the last three days is a diversion. Attacking the Khans. Hints that he won\u2019t accept the results of the election. Complaints that the polls are fishy. Saying that women should run away from sexual harassment. Even kicking a baby out of a rally. All of it.<\/p>\n<p>Because as bad as all this is, if it serves to fend off media attention from the thing Trump\u2019s campaign has suddenly gone quiet about, it could be worth it. Because the thing they\u2019re not talking about is Russia.<\/p>\n<p>While Donald Trump may now claim that his request for Russia to interfere in the election was just an example of sarcasm, it certainly didn&#8217;t seem that way to those listening on that day. And even if you wave that away\u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/story\/2016\/08\/03\/1556203\/-Democratic-Senators-call-for-a-Senate-hearing-concerning-Trump-s-statements-on-Russia\" target=\"_blank\">including the calls for a Senate hearing on the topic<\/a>\u2014other aspects of this story simply can&#8217;t be passed off as a joke.<\/p>\n<p>In particular this is one place where both Donald Trump and campaign manager Paul Manafort are <a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/livewire\/manafort-ukraine-gop-platform\" target=\"_blank\">deliberately, publicly, and obviously lying<\/a>. And that should be setting off major alarms.<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">That&#8217;s why this is the this is the third time I&#8217;ve covered it. Rump Dump and Manafart would deliver our security to Putin (R-RU).<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/humor\/borowitz-report\/d-n-c-headquarters-mobbed-by-republican-refugees-seeking-asylum\" target=\"_blank\">The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font>A humanitarian crisis has been unfolding over the past week as Republican refugees seeking asylum have overrun the Democratic National Committee headquarters, in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>D.N.C. staffers have confirmed that they were woefully unprepared for the masses of desperate Republicans who have shown up at the D.N.C.\u2019s door, looking for safe harbor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese people have been brutalized for months and have decided to risk everything to save themselves and their families,\u201d D.N.C. staffer Tracy Klugian said. \u201cWhen they tell you their stories, they are absolutely heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Andy, you blew it this time. The place for former Republicans seeking freedom is with rank-and-file Democrats, not the DNC DINOs.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/0805Cartoon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"0805Cartoon\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"0805Cartoon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/0805Cartoon_thumb.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"350\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pardon my brevity, but I have to go see my Physical Terrorist, Courtney the Inquisitor.&#160; I&#8217;ve been doing her exercises, but one set of them gives me cramps in stumpy, which abate in a couple minutes but are quite painful.&#160; This is today&#8217;s only article, but I am squeezing in an extra Short Take. I&#8217;m <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/05\/open-thread-852016\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/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-23387","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\/23387","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=23387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}