{"id":25226,"date":"2016-12-05T10:41:03","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T18:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=25226"},"modified":"2016-12-05T10:41:03","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T18:41:03","slug":"open-thread-1252016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/open-thread-1252016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 12\/5\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a chilly morning here in Portland.  It didn’t snow, but the temperature just warmed up to 36\u00b0.  My shoulder is improving.  I hope your weekend was safe and happy, but guess what?  It’s OGIM time!!  Oh God, It’s Monday!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 4:01 (average 4:59).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Religious Almost Ecstasy<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"1204Broncos20-Jaguars10\"<\/font><\/p>\n

There is no true ecstasy with Republican Rectum Rage coming.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a> (Classic 10\/2014)(Hat-Tip Pat A): <\/font>Living with a cat for the first time, you quickly pick up on its behavioral quirks, many of which are common among other cats. What you soon find out is that cats aren’t Republican. Here are 12 reasons why not: <\/p>\n

1. Cats are curious about what you do in your bedroom, but they don’t try to legislate away your freedom to do it.
2. Cats may take away your cushion, but they’ll give it back to you with a gentle push.
3. Cats give you attention and sympathy when you’re sick.
4. Females are treated with importance in the cat world.
5. Cats make use of solar power, often all day long.
6. Cats lick their own problems and take care of other cats too.<\/p>\n

I shared six. Click through for the other six. Since CAT is where it’s AT, if even one fellow feline became a Republican, that would be a CATastrophe.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>No one has offered more vivid testimony about the power of money in politics than Donald Trump has in describing his personal history of writing campaign checks to sway politicians. He claims great success in what he calls \u201ca broken system\u201d of special interests. \u201cWhen you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do,\u201d he said last year in an interview with The Wall Street Journal [Murdoch delinked<\/em>]. \u201cAs a businessman I need that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took his eyewitness accounting a step further in the primary debates, noting that some of his presidential rivals had previously done well by his checkbook. \u201cMost of the people on this stage I\u2019ve given to, just so you understand, a lot of money,\u201d he said. On the trail, Mr. Trump firmly promised reform: \u201cOur campaign is about breaking up the special interest monopoly in Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the more reason to sigh in regret, more than surprise, at the scale of big-money contributions from corporate and private donors that President-elect Trump\u2019s inaugural committee is soliciting for its celebrations next month<\/a>. Tiers of V.I.P. donors have been created, aiming to raise up to $75 million from special interests, which won\u2019t be forgotten when the new administration gets down to governing.<\/p>\n

The money tree is topped by a million-dollar-plus bracket promising donors a \u201ccandlelight dinner,\u201d where Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, will drop by; a lunch with cabinet appointees and Republican congressional leaders; and special entree to inaugural balls and parties. The tiers bottom out at $25,000, the cheapest ticket in a kind of garage sale for plutocrats.<\/p>\n

Will people ever start believing me, when I say that the only difference between the Fuhrer and other Republican politicians and pundits is that he proclaims what they dog whistle?<\/font><\/p>\n

From Huffington Post<\/a>: <\/font>Our country\u2019s privileged few used to exert their control through political surrogates. Now, thanks to Donald Trump, they\u2019re taking a more hands-on approach.<\/p>\n

If it weren\u2019t for his appeals to hate, it would be easy to understand why so many voters were taken in by Trump. It\u2019s not just that the middle class is dying<\/a>, or that wages have flatlined and inequality has soared<\/a>. It\u2019s that there is real fear behind those numbers.<\/p>\n

Millions of Americans, of all races, genders, religions, and national origin, are living in economic fear and distress. Two-thirds of us would have trouble meeting a $1,000 emergency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That kind of economy is a breeding ground for grift. Studies like those conducted by Boston College\u2019s Center for Retirement Research<\/a> confirm what professional con artists have always known: people in financial distress are easier marks. <\/p>\n

And make no mistake about it: Donald Trump is a con artist. Trump voters have been taken in by a grift so shameless he might as well have pretended to be calling from the IRS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump was always a Trojan horse for the 0.01 percent. And now he\u2019s forming a government of, by, and for the very elites he campaigned against.<\/p>\n

Click through for a fascinating read on the Fuhrer’s coming Reich: government of, by and for the 0.01%.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"1205Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a chilly morning here in Portland.  It didn’t snow, but the temperature just warmed up to 36\u00b0.  My shoulder is improving.  I hope your weekend was safe and happy, but guess what?  It’s OGIM time!!  Oh God, It’s Monday!! Jig Zone Puzzle: Today’s took me 4:01 (average 4:59).  To do it, click here.  How […]<\/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-25226","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\/25226","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=25226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}