{"id":24017,"date":"2016-09-29T13:20:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=24017"},"modified":"2016-09-29T13:20:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:20:08","slug":"open-thread-9292019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/open-thread-9292019\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 9\/29\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting my Lift permit renewed this morning took ten minutes.  Factoring-in waiting for rides, it took three and a half hours.  ARGH!!  I’m very tired, but as the effects of the Cymbalta are starting to wear off, I’m feeling a bit more human, and I know tomorrow’s appointment with Megan will limit me to a Personal Update.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:50 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>PPP has put up a number of tweets this morning, which can be seen here<\/a><\/p>\n

The descriptive story is here<\/a> from which we learn <\/p>\n

Colorado    4-way  Clinton 46, Trump 40, Johnson 6, Stein 2
                     2-way  Clinton 51, Trump 44 <\/p>\n

Florida        4-way  Clinton 45, Trump 43, Johnson 3, Stein 1
                      2-way   Clinton 48, Trump 45 <\/p>\n

North Carolina     4-way  Clinton 44, Trump 42, Johnson 7
                      2-way   Clinton 49, Trump 45 <\/p>\n

Pennsylvania       4-way Clinton 45, Trump 39, Johnson 6, Stein 2
                       2-way Clinton 49, Trump 44 <\/p>\n

Virginia                4-way  Clinton 46, Trump 40, Johnson 7, Stein 1
                       2-way  Clinton 49, Trump 43 <\/p>\n

Further, they polled who won the debate, in each case it was Clinton <\/p>\n

CO  53-31
FL   52-35
NC  53-31
PA  51-32
VA  54-30<\/p>\n

That’s great news for America, especially since it shows a shift in support away from the minor candidates, whose candidacies help Trump.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Congress averted a government shutdown Wednesday as the Senate and then the House approved a short-term spending bill, allowing lawmakers to avoid a crisis and return home to campaign.<\/p>\n

The stopgap spending bill, which would fund the government through Dec. 9, had been ensnarled in a debate over financing for the lead-tainted water system in Flint, Mich.<\/p>\n

But an agreement between congressional leaders late Tuesday \u2014 which would authorize aid for Flint as part of separate legislation for water infrastructure projects \u2014 appeared to ameliorate Democratic concerns, clearing the way for the Senate to pass the spending bill, 72 to 26. The House followed suit late Wednesday, approving the measure 342 to 85.<\/p>\n

I’m glad a government shutdown was avoided, but I am skeptical of any measure that includes the Democratic benefits as part of future legislation, especially when Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Gary Peters (D-MI) oppose it. I am skeptical,because of the Republican track record for honoring agreements: virtually never.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>Donald Trump\u2019s campaign manager appeared to unwittingly confirm an explosive Newsweek story on Thursday, telling ABC\u2019s The View that a Trump company did indeed spend money in Cuba in 1998, in violation of a longstanding U.S. embargo that Trump has vociferously defended<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Newsweek\u2019s Kurt Eichenwald reported<\/a> on Thursday that Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts spent at least $68,000 in 1998 in Cuba, \u201cat a time when the corporate expenditure of even a penny in the Caribbean country was prohibited without U.S. government approval.\u201d The story notes that \u201cwith Trump\u2019s knowledge, executives funneled the cash for the Cuba trip through an American consulting firm.\u201d After the consultants traveled to Cuba and spent the funds, the consultants instructed Trump\u2019s company on \u201chow to make it appear legal by linking it after the fact to a charitable effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I have opposed the embargo of Cuba for many years, I would have supported doing business with that nation as an act of civil disobedience, as Michael Moore did, but Trump violating the law, at the same time that he campaigns to reinstate the embargo, is both hypocritical and criminal. It should disqualify his candidacy without further ado.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0929Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getting my Lift permit renewed this morning took ten minutes.  Factoring-in waiting for rides, it took three and a half hours.  ARGH!!  I’m very tired, but as the effects of the Cymbalta are starting to wear off, I’m feeling a bit more human, and I know tomorrow’s appointment with Megan will limit me to a […]<\/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-24017","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\/24017","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=24017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24017\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}