{"id":25829,"date":"2017-01-12T10:49:41","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T18:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=25829"},"modified":"2017-01-12T10:49:41","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T18:49:41","slug":"open-thread-1122017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/12\/open-thread-1122017\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 1\/12\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good news.  My insulin syringes should be arriving today.  Yesterday’s tribulations tired me considerably, so please pardon my brevity.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 4:15 (average 5:39).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>On Thursday morning, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called him \u201cto denounce the false and fictitious report that was illegally circulated\u201d about Russia being in possession of compromising information<\/a> about him.<\/p>\n

But Trump was actually spreading a falsehood of its own. In a statement about the call, Clapper said, \u201cthe IC has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Clapper did claim is that the report was not a product of US intelligence.  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Metro<\/a>: <\/font>A former British intelligence officer has been named as the man behind a controversial but unverified document claiming Russia has leverage over the <\/p>\n

Christopher Steele, 52, who runs London-based Orbis Business Intelligence, was named in reports as having compiled the file on Trump.<\/p>\n

The 35-page dossier contains unconfirmed allegations that Russian security officials have compromising material on Trump that could be used to blackmail him. Steele\u2019s brother Kevin has denied his sibling\u2019s involvement in the document.<\/p>\n

It was claimed that Russia has footage of Trump in a Moscow hotel room accompanied by prostitutes who performed golden showers on a bed previously slept in by President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle…<\/p>\n

Clapper has said the document is unverified by US intelligence, not that it is untrue. Steele, the former MI6 agent, who compiled it, has gone into hiding. That’s only understandable, if Putin want’s Steele dead for jeopardizing the fruits Putin’s hard work, spent establishing his ownership of the Piddle Puddle Pervert.  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>As he prepared last week to deliver his farewell address, President Obama convened three Democratic leaders in the White House for a strategy session on the future of their party. The quiet huddle included Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrats in Congress, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia.<\/p>\n

One topic of urgent concern, according to people briefed on the meeting: how to break the Republican Party\u2019s iron grip on the congressional map.<\/p>\n

Thwarted for much of his term by a confrontational Republican Congress, and criticized by his fellow Democrats for not devoting sufficient attention to their down-ballot candidates, Mr. Obama has decided to make the byzantine process of legislative redistricting a central political priority in his first years after the presidency.<\/p>\n

Emerging as Mr. Obama\u2019s chief collaborator and proxy is Eric H. Holder Jr., the former attorney general of the United States and a personal friend of the president. He has signed on to lead the National Democratic Redistricting Committee<\/a>, a newly formed political group aimed at untangling the creatively drawn districts that have helped cement the Republican Party in power in Washington and many state capitals.<\/p>\n

We need all the help we can get!  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0112Cartoon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Republicans may be planning a sequel.  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good news.  My insulin syringes should be arriving today.  Yesterday’s tribulations tired me considerably, so please pardon my brevity. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today’s took me 4:15 (average 5:39).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From Think Progress: On Thursday morning, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that Director of National Intelligence James […]<\/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-25829","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\/25829","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=25829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}