{"id":23799,"date":"2016-09-08T13:02:18","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T20:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=23799"},"modified":"2016-09-08T13:02:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T20:02:18","slug":"open-thread-982016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/08\/open-thread-982016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 9\/8\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, Wendy stayed late to make up for the time she missed on Sunday.  She cleaned my desk, AKA the Cat Box, and it only took me about forty five minutes to get all the electronics working again.  I stayed up to watch the replay of political abortion on MSNBC, and other than filling everything in the house, except George, with barf, I survived the event, albeit barely.  This evening I’ll be worshiping in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  Carolina will be visiting my Broncos.  May the Holy Orb bless my Broncos, but between you and me, my faith isn’t real strong.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:24).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>A staff member for the Carter Administration during the 1970s and Secretary of Labor for President Clinton in the 1990s, the current author, professor and political commentator Robert Reich has seen more than most when it comes to our American politics and politicians. <\/p>\n

When it comes to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Reich holds nothing back. Last week, he posted an opinion piece about Trump\u2019s recent immigration speech in Phoenix, Arizona that deserves more press. Here is the full Facebook post.<\/a><\/p>\n

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I’ve almost given up trying to correct Trump’s lies because every time he opens his mouth he emits more of them. But his speech yesterday in Pheonix on immigration was so trumped-up that it’s important to be reminded of the truth. Here are 6 Trump whoppers about immigration:<\/p>\n

1. Trump\u2019s claim that \u201cillegal immigration costs our country more than $113 billion a year\u201d is pure baloney. In fact, most undocumented workers pay into Social Security and other programs from which they’ll never benefit. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, has it right, and the Reich on the right, The Republican Reich has it wrong again. I shared one of six whoppers. Click through<\/a> for the other five.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: …<\/font>In one of the nation\u2019s most closely watched voting rights cases, the appeals court ruled in July<\/a> that the Texas law, which required voters to show one of seven government photo IDs before casting a ballot, discriminated against minorities who lacked the IDs and could not easily get them. A lower court later ordered state officials to let people without IDs vote by signing a statement that they \u201ccannot reasonably obtain\u201d one \u2014 and told the state to spend $2.5 million to educate voters and local election officials on the relaxed requirement.<\/p>\n

But in a motion filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Corpus Christi, advocacy groups and federal lawyers said the state\u2019s education campaign was misleading voters into believing that voting would still be more difficult than it is.<\/p>\n

The reason, the motion stated, is that the campaign omits the word \u201creasonably,\u201d stating instead that voters can cast ballots only if they swear that they \u201ccannot obtain\u201d an identification card. That not only ignores the court\u2019s order, the motion stated, but also leaves voters with the erroneous impression that they cannot vote unless they have exhausted every avenue to acquire an ID.<\/p>\n

Texas officials repeatedly refused demands to change the language on official websites or in literature, the motion stated, saying that \u201ccannot obtain\u201d met the court\u2019s requirement\u2026<\/p>\n

There are few crimes, if any, Republicans don’t commit trio separate voters from their right to vote.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Crooks and Liars<\/a>: <\/font>Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson was stumped when MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle asked him what he would do about the Syrian city of Aleppo<\/a>. <\/p>\n