{"id":29570,"date":"2017-09-24T12:17:46","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T19:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=29570"},"modified":"2017-09-24T12:17:46","modified_gmt":"2017-09-24T19:17:46","slug":"open-thread-9242017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/24\/open-thread-9242017\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 9\/24\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and my Broncos are worshiping with the Bills.  The game is not televised here \"Sad, but I shall meditate as well as I can.  May the divine Orb shed its blessed light on your team, unless they create a bison plucky hazard.  Today is a Wendy day, and I’m totally ready for a shower.<\/font><\/p>\n

I let Wendy go a half hour early, as she has a busy day.  My Broncos are currently down 4. \"Crying<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:28 (average 6:07).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Washington Post<\/a>: <\/font>Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell catapulted himself into the national political discourse on national anthem protests, one intensified by President Trump\u2019s comments over the weekend, as he knelt for the song preceding a game against the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n

Maxwell, a 26-year-old rookie whose family has military roots, is the first MLB player to kneel during the anthem, following in the footsteps of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the anthem ahead of the 2016 NFL season. Since then several dozen athletes, mostly NFL players, have followed suit, using the gesture to protest police shootings of unarmed black men and to support the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n

Maxwell, however, knelt also to protest comments by President Trump, according to his agent, specifically Trump\u2019s call on NFL owners to fire or suspend players for kneeling during the anthem. Trump continued that call Sunday morning on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t you love to see one of these NFL owners,\u201d wondered the president at a Friday night rally, \u201cwhen somebody disrespects our flag, to say, \u2018Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He\u2019s fired. He\u2019s fired!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Kudos to Maxwell. Professional athletes have a guaranteed 1st Amendment right to speak out against the Fuhrer and his Republican Reich. Kneeling in protest does not disrespect the flag, and Trump would not care if it did. He cares only because it disrespects him by opposing the Republican de facto position that cops should kill minority demonstrators. RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font>Donald J. Trump on Friday capped a busy week of diplomatic activity by naming the former Alaska governor Sarah Palin the United States Ambassador to Nambia.<\/p>\n

By naming Palin to this diplomatic post, the United States has become the first nation in the world to formally recognize Nambia\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n

In a joint appearance with Trump at the White House, Palin acknowledged that she \u201cdidn\u2019t know a lot about Nambia\u201d but said that she was looking forward to receiving a comprehensive briefing on the nation\u2019s history, culture, and customs from the Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it\u2019s Nambia, here I come!\u201d Palin exclaimed.<\/p>\n

Dang Andy! This is the only time I have ever agreed with the Fuhrer. Nambia is the perfect post for Bloody Bullseye Barbie.  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>In an unpredictable political year across Europe, the German election<\/a> on Sunday has been considered the boring final act<\/a>. Angela Merkel, the Continent\u2019s most powerful figure, is expected to win a fourth term as chancellor after a colorless campaign. Yet if many Germans seem satisfied enough with their leader, others are unhappy with the wishy-washy consensus of the main political parties.<\/p>\n

Troubled by her migration policy and her long tenure, some Germans are turning more toward smaller, more ideological parties. For the first time in more than 60 years, they are expected to vote a far-right, anti-immigration party \u2014 the Alternative for Germany, known by its German initials, AfD \u2014 into the federal Parliament.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the party has regained lost ground in the opinion polls. It could emerge as Germany\u2019s third-largest party \u2014 and even become the leader of the opposition, if the current coalition of the two largest parties falls apart.<\/p>\n

Such a scenario would represent a big shift in the consensus-driven style of politics in Germany. And the historical import is undeniable in a country still shadowed by the Nazi legacy of World War II, which is why the election is generating some angst.<\/p>\n

Even the party\u2019s entrance into Parliament \u201cwould be a dramatic milestone,\u201d said Frank Decker<\/a>, a political scientist from the University of Bonn. \u201cIn the past there were a few individual old Nazis who made it into the national Parliament, but there has never been a party on the far-right of the political spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our own nation is a sad example of what happens when Republicans take control of a government. It is critically important that other Nazi parties, like the AfD, be denied even the slightest toehold elsewhere. RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"0924Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and my Broncos are worshiping with the Bills.  The game is not televised here , but I shall meditate as well as I can.  May the divine Orb shed its blessed light on your team, unless they create a bison plucky hazard.  Today is […]<\/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-29570","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\/29570","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=29570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}