{"id":23757,"date":"2016-09-03T13:56:18","date_gmt":"2016-09-03T20:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=23757"},"modified":"2016-09-03T13:56:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-03T20:56:18","slug":"open-thread-932016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/03\/open-thread-932016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 9\/3\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was so very tired that I overslept this morning.  The first thing I noticed was the quiet.  Looking out my window, I saw that all the heavy equipment is gone, so I’m hoping that means that they’re done for good, not just for the weekend.  After breakfast, I slept most of the morning, and feel ready to sleep some more as soon as my articles are up.  Please take care.  Republicans often drive as insanely as they vote.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:15 (average 4:41).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Media Matters<\/a>: <\/font>New York magazine\u2019s Gabriel Sherman reported in his September 2 cover story<\/a> on the fall of Fox News chairman Roger Ailes:<\/p>\n

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Fox News also obtained the phone records of journalists, by legally questionable means. According to two sources with direct knowledge of the incident, Brandi, Fox\u2019s general counsel, hired a private investigator in late 2010 to obtain the personal home- and cell-phone records of Joe Strupp, a reporter for the liberal watchdog group Media Matters. (Through a spokesperson, Brandi denied this.) In the fall of that year, Strupp had written several articles quoting anonymous Fox sources, and the network wanted to determine who was talking to him. \u201cThis was the culture. Getting phone records doesn\u2019t make anybody blink,\u201d one Fox executive told me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I think Media Matters and Strupp could (and should) unbalance the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise<\/em>, with a lawsuit to make their bank account several $million lighter.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>The Clinton campaign lays out the contrast between what Donald Trump\u2014with an eager assist from media outlets like the New York Times\u2014has been falsely accusing the Clinton Foundation of doing and what the Trump Foundation really did do:<\/p>\n

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"Donald Trump has been falsely attacking the charity run by President Clinton when it is Trump’s own Foundation that has been caught in an actual pay-to-play scandal. <\/p>\n

"While the Clinton Foundation has received the highest ratings from independent charitable watchdogs, Donald Trump’s use of foundation money to donate to the Florida Attorney General actually broke the law. Worst of all, it appears the payment may have been intended to stave off an investigation into the sham Trump University that has ripped off unsuspecting students.<\/p>\n

"Donald Trump has no standing whatsoever to question the Clinton Foundation, which works to make AIDS and malaria drugs more accessible, when it’s been proven he uses his own foundation to launder illegal campaign donations."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n