{"id":24319,"date":"2016-10-22T14:15:50","date_gmt":"2016-10-22T21:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=24319"},"modified":"2016-10-22T14:15:50","modified_gmt":"2016-10-22T21:15:50","slug":"open-thread-10222016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/22\/open-thread-10222016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 10\/22\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s another busy day.  After doing my morning research, I took a brief nap, refilled my pill caddy for the week, and got a haircut.  I needed it, as I plan a prison volunteer day on Thursday.  With Wendy coming tomorrow, I’ll be itching for less than 24 hours.  After my blogging, I have to plan my menu for the week and start to compose next week’s shopping list.  Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, so may the holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team.  My Broncos don’t play until Monday.  Pat, I luv ya anyway.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 4:30 (average 6:42).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>I know it was unprofessional of me. But I wept when I read Stephanie Woodard\u2019s investigative piece<\/a> on the killings of American Indians by cops published Monday in the democratic socialist magazine In These Times<\/em>. It\u2019s no stretch to say it broke my heart.<\/p>\n

The reasons for those tears, which continue to spring forth days after my first reading, are many.<\/p>\n

Even though none were of my tribe, they were still my people, like me, descendants of the first humans to set foot on this continent 400 generations ago. Like the slayings of so many African Americans killed by police, the deaths of many of them could have easily been avoided by smarter, more compassionate and less trigger-happy cops. And, as is so often the case in matters relating to living indigenous Americans, these dead men and women were invisible. Most didn\u2019t show up in the media or the statistics. Woodard\u2019s story should have been on the front page of The New York Times<\/em>, the centerpiece of a report on NBC, the subject of speeches on the Senate floor. <\/p>\n

Red lives matter.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Major websites were inaccessible to people across wide swaths of the United States on Friday after a company that manages crucial parts of the internet\u2019s infrastructure said it was under attack.<\/p>\n

Users reported sporadic problems reaching several websites, including Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, Airbnb, Reddit, Etsy, SoundCloud and The New York Times.<\/p>\n

The company, Dyn, whose servers monitor and reroute internet traffic, said it began experiencing what security experts called a distributed denial-of-service attack just after 7 a.m. Reports that many sites were inaccessible started on the East Coast, but spread westward in three waves as the day wore on and into the evening.<\/p>\n

And in a troubling development, the attack appears to have relied on hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices like cameras, baby monitors and home routers that have been infected \u2014 without their owners\u2019 knowledge \u2014 with software that allows hackers to command them to flood a target with overwhelming traffic.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security were looking into the incident and all potential causes, including criminal activity and a nation-state attack.<\/p>\n

Yesterday Lona commented that the attack was perpetrated by Russia and intended to knock Politics Plus offline to keep me from criticizing Rump Dump Trump. If that is the case, I certainly apologize to Twitter, Netflix, the NY Times, and other comparatively minor sites for the inconvenience that the Republican response to my activism has caused. \"Smile<\/font><\/p>\n

From YouTube<\/a> (PBS Channel<\/a>): <\/font>What the latest polls mean for the presidency — and Congress <\/p>\n