{"id":25870,"date":"2017-01-14T13:14:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T21:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=25870"},"modified":"2017-01-14T13:14:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T21:14:11","slug":"open-thread-1142017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/14\/open-thread-1142017\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread 1\/14\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

I ended up feeling rather stupid yesterday, when I called Safeway.com to ask why my food was late and they told me I had scheduled the delivery for today.  Then I ended up feeling frustrated today, when they called me to tell me my delivery was cancelled due to hazardous driving conditions.  I’m hoping I can reach Wendy in time to ask her to pick up a few staples for me before she goes to work and bring them in the morning.  Today and tomorrow are holy days in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  If your team is still meditating, may the Orb bless them with it’s divine light.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:34 (average 5:28).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Common Dreams<\/a>: <\/font>The rise of political populists threatens democracy worldwide, a new report<\/a> from Human Rights Watch (HRW) released Thursday says.<\/p>\n

In its World Report 2017<\/a>, the human rights organization highlights President-elect Donald Trump<\/a>‘s victory in the U.S., the power grabs of "strongman" leaders in Russia<\/a>, China, Turkey<\/a>, and the Philippines<\/a>, and the rise of right-wing demagogues<\/a> in Europe, as trends that "denigrate legal standards and disdain factual analysis, directly challenge the laws and institutions that promote dignity, tolerance, and equality."<\/p>\n

Trump and other populist leaders work from a similar propaganda playbook that supports bigotry and discrimination; scapegoats immigrants and refugees for economic problems; encourages people to give up their rights in favor of authoritarian rule as a defense against outside threats; and foments division between demographics, the report states.<\/p>\n

We aren’t the only ones. We just have the worst Fuhrer.  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>The Democratic National Committee is holding the first of four regional \u201cFuture Forums\u201d today in Phoenix, Arizona. The forum begins at 9 AM Mountain Time.  You can view a livestream at democrats.org<\/a>…<\/p>\n

…Candidates for Chair:
\u2022 Sally Boynton Brown, Idaho Democratic Party Executive Director, President of Association of State Democratic Executive Directors
\u2022 Ray Buckley, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair, Association of State Democratic Parties Chair
\u2022 Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, IN
\u2022 Keith Ellison, U.S. Representative (MN-5)
\u2022 Jehmu Greene, Fox News Political Analyst
\u2022 Jaime Harrison, South Carolina Democratic Party Chair
\u2022 Tom Perez, secretary of Labor.<\/p>\n

I still like Ellison because of his progressive resume. If you disagree, who do you support and why?<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>Early Saturday morning, President-elect Donald Trump attacked<\/a> the Georgia congressman and famed civil rights hero John Lewis for being \u201call talk, no action\u201d and presiding over a \u201ccrime infested\u201d district that\u2019s \u201cfalling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thinly veiled racial smear \u2014 essentially suggesting Lewis is a slumlord \u2014 came on the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as the nation prepares to honor the civil rights leader with whom Lewis worked closely<\/a> in the 1960s to advocate for racial and economic justice.<\/p>\n

What else would a Republican Racist say?  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0114Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I ended up feeling rather stupid yesterday, when I called Safeway.com to ask why my food was late and they told me I had scheduled the delivery for today.  Then I ended up feeling frustrated today, when they called me to tell me my delivery was cancelled due to hazardous driving conditions.  I’m hoping I […]<\/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-25870","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\/25870","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=25870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}