{"id":23599,"date":"2016-08-21T12:08:15","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T19:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=23599"},"modified":"2016-08-21T12:08:15","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T19:08:15","slug":"open-thread-8212016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/21\/open-thread-8212016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 8\/21\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

It looks like we have three days in the high 70\u00b0s, before the excessive heat returns to Portland on Wednesday.  We had our blog’s fantasy football draft yesterday.  By lot, I drafted last.  Even though, it was the worst position, I think I did well.  Wendy just left, and I feel so clean.  I was getting really stinky.  Tomorrow I have a routine appointment with my Podiatrist, so please expect no more than a Personal Update.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 4:23.  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Donald Trump is heading to November like a certain zeppelin heading to New Jersey, in a darkening sky that crackles with electricity. He is fighting crosswinds and trying new tacks \u2014 hiring the head of Breitbart News to run his campaign, trying on a new emotion (regret) in a speech<\/a> on Thursday night, promising to talk more this week about immigration, his prime subject. There\u2019s still no telling what will happen when the gasbag reaches the mooring.<\/p>\n

It could be that the polls are right, and Mr. Trump will go down in flames. But while that will solve an immediate problem, a larger one will remain. The message of hatred and paranoia that is inciting millions of voters will outlast the messenger. The toxic effects of Trumpism will have to be addressed.<\/p>\n

In this case, I disagree with the Gray Lady. Trump is the symptom, not the disease. Racial hatred is not Trumpism, nor is Rump Dump even it’s messenger. Racial hatred is Republicanism. And Trump is just the disobedient parrot of that message, as he squawks when he’s supposed to be dog whistling.<\/font><\/p>\n

From PoliticusUSA<\/a>: <\/font>Yes. It is true. Conservatives are freaking out because lesbians can be farmers too. And apparently there is something wrong with that. What has them all worked up is the \u201cIowa LGBT Rural Summit,\u201d which took place on August 18 at Drake Law School. To make matters worse, the summit was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which joined with the National Center for Lesbian Rights\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026So yeah. Pretty scary stuff for right wingers who can never find enough stuff about which to be frightened. Rush Limbaugh launched into one of his famously incoherent rants over it, exclaiming,<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you heard the latest Democrat scam? Have you heard about the Agriculture Department\u2019s financial grants to lesbian farmers? You think I\u2019m making this up? See, this is how they do it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Dang!! I’d better check to make sure my breakfast cereal doesn’t have a wet spot! Seriously, I could not make this stuff up!!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From The Oregonian<\/a>: <\/font>It looks like Donald Trump won’t be coming to Portland<\/a>, after all.<\/p>\n

The Republican presidential nominee on Saturday canceled his plans to appear at a fundraiser in the city and a public appearance that was slated for the same day. Trump’s Oregon campaign manager, Jacob Daniels, told OPB that the nominee’s schedule was adjusted to omit the Portland appearance<\/a> after a visit to Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Woooo Hoooo!! This proves that there is a God!! \"Winking<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0821Cartoon\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looks like we have three days in the high 70\u00b0s, before the excessive heat returns to Portland on Wednesday.  We had our blog’s fantasy football draft yesterday.  By lot, I drafted last.  Even though, it was the worst position, I think I did well.  Wendy just left, and I feel so clean.  I was […]<\/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-23599","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\/23599","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=23599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}