{"id":24846,"date":"2016-11-20T11:55:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T19:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=24846"},"modified":"2016-11-20T11:55:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T19:55:20","slug":"open-thread-11202016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/20\/open-thread-11202016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread &#8211; 11\/20\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I&#8217;m somewhat rushed today, because Wendy just left.&#160; After she scrubbed and polished the filthy TomCat, we did the dreaded task, cleaned floors and counters, pad bills, organized paperwork and had French toast for brunch.&#160; Tomorrow, I have a podiatrist appointment for routine diabetic foot care, so please expect no more than a Personal Update.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Today&#8217;s took me 2:57 (average 4:58).&#160; To do it, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jigzone.com\/puzzles\/2016-11-20-CE2504A965A9\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.&#160; How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JUWSLlz0Fdo\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SaturdayNightLive\/videos\" target=\"_blank\">SNL Channel<\/a>): <\/font>Donald Trump Prepares Cold Open<\/p>\n<p>&#160;<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/JUWSLlz0Fdo?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I wish Fuhrer Drumphenfarten were going to scrap all those things! Fat chance!<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2016\/11\/18\/state-ags-vow-be-first-line-defense-block-trumps-constitutional-violations\" target=\"_blank\">Common Dreams<\/a>: <\/font>As members of vulnerable communities and their allies <a href=\"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2016\/11\/11\/birth-control-passports-embattled-groups-prepare-trump\" target=\"_blank\">gear up for threats<\/a> the upcoming Donald Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress could unleash, the top legal officers in at least five states are also preparing, announcing they are ready to be &quot;the first line of defense&quot; to block any constitutional violations.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters reports that the statements come from the state attorneys general in Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, and Washington. They are all Democrats.<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Kudos! I hope many more join them.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/11\/keith-ellison-dnc-resistance-231575\" target=\"_blank\">Politico<\/a>: <\/font>Keith Ellison, an early favorite to become the next Democratic National Committee chairman, has hit his first roadblock. The Minnesota congressman and Bernie Sanders ally is facing growing resistance to the idea of electing another party chair who is a sitting member of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>On the heels of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz\u2019s troubled tenure as DNC chief, the issue of whether Ellison will commit full-time to the job poses a threat to his candidacy \u2014 even as he enjoys significant support in his bid to become DNC chair. <\/p>\n<p>Wasserman Schultz drew criticism in party circles for how she handled the two demanding roles, and Democrats privately grumbled that she sought to leverage her position as party chairman to give her congressional donors plum spots at DNC fundraisers with President Barack Obama and solicited DNC donors for contributions to her campaign. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we all watched at DNC meetings a chair trying to do both and both is a matter of the amount of time being taken but also if you are a sitting officeholder there&#8217;s potentially some separation between your interests and the interests of the national party,&quot; said Ohio Democratic Party chairman David Pepper.<\/p>\n<p>Already, two of Ellison\u2019s opponents for the top DNC job \u2014 former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison \u2014 have made the point that congressional responsibilities would dramatically undercut ability of the next chairman to do the job effectively.<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I disagree. The last thing we need for the DNC are former lobbyists and Blue Dogs. If they want to insist on an unemployed politician, they can tap Alan Grayson.<\/font> <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/post\/just-what-trump-needs-religious-right-says-he-was-elected-by-god\/\" target=\"_blank\">Right Wing Watch<\/a>:<\/font> Religious Right leaders were some of Donald Trump\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/post\/conservative-christians-take-deal-jesus-rejected\/\" target=\"_blank\">most fervent<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/post\/the-revenge-of-the-religious-right\/\">supporters<\/a> in the presidential election\u2014offering dozens of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/post\/gods-guy-25-religious-right-justifications-for-supporting-donald-trump\/\">religious justifications for backing Trump<\/a> in spite of his evident arrogance, dishonesty, mistreatment of women, and other character flaws. Telling the supremely narcissistic Trump that he has God\u2019s special backing seems to be pouring gasoline on the fire, and that\u2019s what Religious Right leaders have been doing since Election Day. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/post\/michele-bachmann-on-donald-trumps-victory-the-lord-did-this\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Lord did this!\u201d<\/a> exulted former Rep. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/people\/michele-bachmann\/\" target=\"_blank\">Michele Bachmann<\/a> on the night of the election. Televangelist and End Times huckster <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/people\/jim-bakker\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Bakker<\/a> called Trump\u2019s victory <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/post\/jim-bakker-trumps-election-is-the-greatest-miracle-i-have-ever-seen\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cthe greatest miracle I have ever seen.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/people\/george-barna\/\" target=\"_blank\">George Barna<\/a>, an evangelical pollster and Religious Right activist, appeared after the election on \u201cStand in the Gap [pseudo-Christians delinked],\u201d a radio program hosted by the American Pastors Network\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/people\/sam-rohrer\/\">Sam Rohrer<\/a>. Barna gushed that voter turnout among SAGE (Spiritually Active Governance Engaged) Christians\u2014his term for \u201creal Christians\u201d who attend church often and are politically active\u2014was \u201castounding.\u201d He said SAGE Christians were \u201cthe single most united and strongest segment backing Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Barna went beyond that to say that God had specifically acted to make Trump president. \u201cI\u2019ve witnessed a major miracle,\u201d said Barna. \u201cWhat has happened is that God has intervened in our reality and changed that reality more to His liking than what would have happened if He\u2019d left us to our own devices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I want to puke!! Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians are the exact opposite of authentic Christians. Unlike Jesus, these satanic Republicans hate love and love hate.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"1120Cartoon\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"1120Cartoon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1120Cartoon.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"350\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m somewhat rushed today, because Wendy just left.&#160; After she scrubbed and polished the filthy TomCat, we did the dreaded task, cleaned floors and counters, pad bills, organized paperwork and had French toast for brunch.&#160; Tomorrow, I have a podiatrist appointment for routine diabetic foot care, so please expect no more than a Personal Update. <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/20\/open-thread-11202016\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","category-religion","category-35-id","category-3-id","category-5-id","category-47-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24846","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=24846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}