{"id":25615,"date":"2016-12-25T07:33:46","date_gmt":"2016-12-25T15:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=25615"},"modified":"2016-12-25T07:33:46","modified_gmt":"2016-12-25T15:33:46","slug":"open-thread-12252016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/25\/open-thread-12252016\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 12\/25\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

I did most of the research for this article last night, so I could hit the ground running today and get a nap, before Wendy comes, so I can watch my Broncos without falling asleep.  Please be sure to catch today’s lead article, my Christmas greeting to you.  Hugs!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:33 (average 8:13).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

A Fascist (Republican) Nativity:<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1225GOPNativity\"<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was drawn byJoanna Wieruszewska from Poland.  She asked for her brother Marek Wieruszewski to be credited with the idea for the drawing.  Hat-Tip: SoINeedAName<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a> (Classic 12\/2014): <\/font>According to Scott McConnell’s 100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand she did indeed. Unfortunately, none are included in McConnell’s 656 page book.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, with a little help from the Ayn Rand Archives*, we’re able to present to you this exclusive, never-before-seen collection of Ayn Rand favorites.<\/p>\n

\"1225ayn_rand_01\"<\/p>\n

\"1225ayn_rand_14\"<\/p>\n

I shared 2. Click through for the rest. Rand is Lyin’ Ryan’s hero.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Raw Story<\/a>: <\/font>On Friday, former Green Party candidate Jill Stein\u2014who launched a recount effort in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania following the election of Donald Trump\u2014asked U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate the integrity of the nation\u2019s electoral system, the Hill<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe write to urge the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the integrity of our nation\u2019s election system generally, and our nation\u2019s voting machines specifically, based on the information we discovered in the course of this representation,\u201d Stein\u2019s counsel wrote in a letter to Lynch.<\/p>\n

The letter urged the department to focus specifically on human and machine error that may impact voting machines in future elections.<\/p>\n

While I agree with her request, it’s another publicity stunt. She proved that she cares nothing about the integrity of US elections every time she parroted Russian lies on Putin’s propaganda network, RT.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Politico<\/a>: <\/font>As Putin climbed the ranks in the Kremlin, eventually becoming the autocratic president he is today, he and Kissinger kept up a warm rapport even as the United States and Russia grew further apart. Kissinger is one of the few Americans to meet frequently with Putin, one former U.S. ambassador recently recalled<\/a> — along with movie star Steven Seagal and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, the likely next secretary of state.<\/p>\n

Now, as Donald Trump signals that he wants a more cooperative relationship with Moscow, the 93-year-old Kissinger is positioning himself as a potential intermediary \u2014 meeting with the president-elect in private and flattering him in public. Like Trump, Kissinger has also cast doubt on intelligence agencies\u2019 conclusion that Russia sought to sway the election in Trump’s favor, telling<\/a> a recent interviewer: \u201cThey were hacking, but the use they allegedly made of this hacking eludes me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In  addition to many other atrocities, Kissinger is the bastard that engineered the violent overthrow and murder of Chile’s elected President Salvatore Allende, a democratic socialist, and the takeover by Agosto Pinochet, one of the century’s most brutal fascist dictators. Kissinger organized CIA training of Pinochet’s death squads in torture, disappearing and murder of tens of thousands of Chilean citizens. He did this to exploit Chile’s copper for US vulture capitalists. As such, Kissinger will fit right in with other members of Trump’s Reich.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"1225Cartoon\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I did most of the research for this article last night, so I could hit the ground running today and get a nap, before Wendy comes, so I can watch my Broncos without falling asleep.  Please be sure to catch today’s lead article, my Christmas greeting to you.  Hugs!! Jig Zone Puzzle: Today’s took me […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,35,5,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monthly-report","category-open-thread","category-politics","category-religion","category-45-id","category-35-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\/25615","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=25615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}