{"id":26411,"date":"2017-02-19T12:01:08","date_gmt":"2017-02-19T20:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=26411"},"modified":"2017-02-19T12:01:08","modified_gmt":"2017-02-19T20:01:08","slug":"open-thread-2192017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/19\/open-thread-2192017\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 2\/19\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wendy just left having destinked the foul TomCat, helped with the dreaded task and some light housework, and received a back rub with Icy-Hot, because she tweaked it in the bar last night.  That was the high point of my day.  She also had fried eggs and potatoes for brunch.  Now I have some catching up to do.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 5:36 (average 6:13).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Ex-convict and white supremacist Benjamin McDowell<\/a>, 28, was arrested after buying a handgun and ammunition from an FBI agent for $109.<\/p>\n

McDowell had complained on facebook that fellow white supremacists were all talk and no action: "All they wanne (sic) do is stay loaded on drugs the Jews put here to destroy white man and they feast on the drugs. they should be Feasting on the enemy that stole their Heritage and their bloodline" he wrote, also citing Dylan Roof, the white mass murderer sentenced to death for the murder of a group of black churchgoers.<\/p>\n

Authorities began investigating McDowell in December after he posted threats to a synagogue on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Since President Trump was sworn in, vowing to keep America safe from terrorism, and issuing a travel ban against Muslim countries that was later blocked by the courts, this is the third white American to be investigated for a terrorist plot.<\/p>\n

Click through for more terrorism by Trump Republicans.  It’s a good thing the FBI got this one before the Nectarine Nazi gave him Flynn’s job. RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>Donald Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort \u2014 which he refers to as \u201cthe Winter White House<\/a>\u201d \u2014 will bring in millions of dollars in membership fees each year while allowing members to have the ear of the president.<\/p>\n

According to a New York Times piece published on Saturday<\/a>, Trump\u2019s son Eric told the newspaper that Mar-a-Lago admits about 20 to 40 new members each year. Considering that Mar-a-Lago raised its initiation fees to $200,0000 after Trump\u2019s presidential inauguration<\/a>, that\u2019s up to $8 million dollars coming in from new members per year. And that doesn\u2019t include taxes or the $14,000 charge for each member\u2019s annual dues.<\/p>\n

While clearly criminal, the likelihood that Beauregard will investigate, let alone indict him is nil. RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Raw Story<\/a>: <\/font>Almost all congressional Republicans are scared of facing voters in town hall meetings over the long President\u2019s Day weekend. Only 19 representatives and senators\u2014a tiny number\u2014will hold town meetings during the first recess of the current session of Congress, according to the Town Hall Project<\/a>. But the group\u2019s listing of these democratic mainstays barely tells the story.<\/p>\n

According to an eye-opening Washington Post account<\/a>, Republican officeholders have been cancelling planned town halls because they don\u2019t want to face critics upset that they may soon lose their health insurance or see an increase in costs as the GOP plans to undermine Obamacare. Even worse, they don\u2019t want organized progressive groups to show up with posters and video camera and determination to challenge them in public and post the confrontations on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the Town Hall Project, which collates information about public town halls, there are no availabilities in Utah\u2014where every federal officeholder is a Republican\u2014over the coming week,\u201d WaPo wrote<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s not a fluke. Just 19 Republican members of Congress have scheduled traditional town halls over the weeklong recess. Several more, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have listed ticketed events or \u201coffice hours;\u201d a few more have announced tele-town halls<\/a>, which allow constituents to lob questions without risking a \u201cYouTube moment<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This cowardly response is nothing new from immoderate Republicans; it\u2019s in line with their partisan ethic that \u201canything goes\u201d to win, except playing fair. They cannot win in many states without gerrymandering federal and state districts, which allowed them to seize power after the 2010 Census. They cannot win widely in high turnout elections, hence their efforts to limit participation by creating barriers like new voter ID laws or restricting voting options favored by critics, like early voting on weekends.<\/p>\n

The bottom line here is this. Republicans don’t want to know what YOU think, because, unless you are a Nazi, a Misogynist, a pseudo-Christian, a Russian, or a billionaire, Republicans do not represent YOU! RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0219Cartoon\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wendy just left having destinked the foul TomCat, helped with the dreaded task and some light housework, and received a back rub with Icy-Hot, because she tweaked it in the bar last night.  That was the high point of my day.  She also had fried eggs and potatoes for brunch.  Now I have some catching […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26411","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\/26411","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=26411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}