{"id":31739,"date":"2018-03-12T13:31:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T20:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=31739"},"modified":"2018-03-12T17:14:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T00:14:31","slug":"open-thread-3-12-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/12\/open-thread-3-12-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 3\/12\/2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s another warm, sunny day here at the CatBox.\u00a0 I have not recovered from sproinging yet, so I’m going to get as much rest as I can, until my routine follow-up appointment on Friday.\u00a0 I got my test results back.\u00a0 My A1C is 7.0, which is a tiny bit high, but very well controlled for a diabetic.\u00a0 My Cholesterol and Lipids are in the ideal ranges.\u00a0 I may live to see 70.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:43).\u00a0 To do it, click here<\/a>.\u00a0 How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

From Huffington Post<\/a>: <\/span>Donald Trump has backed down from making the sweeping changes to US gun laws he mooted in the wake of the Florida school shooting<\/a> last month and will instead support a modest set of fixes.<\/p>\n

Opting for a plan the administration officials described as \u201cpragmatic,\u201d Trump backs legislation proposed in Congress aimed at providing more data for the background check system – a database of people who are not legally allowed to buy guns, reports Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More contentious proposals, such as raising the minimum age for buying guns to 21 from 18, or requiring background checks for guns bought at gun shows or on the internet, will be studied by a commission headed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos<\/a>, the officials said.<\/p>\n

The change of heart is in stark contrast to a combative televised meeting where he chided lawmakers for being afraid of the National Rifle Association [terrorist Republicans delinked<\/em>](NRA), one of the most powerful lobbies in the US.<\/p>\n

I told you it was all an act. With DeVos heading the commission, it might as well be headed by the NRA. RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/span><\/p>\n

From Fortune<\/a>: <\/span>Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation into whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice is said to be close to completion, but he may set it aside while he finishes other key parts of his probe, such as possible collusion and the hacking of Democrats, according to current and former U.S. officials.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Mueller may calculate that if he tries to bring charges in the obstruction case \u2014 the part that may hit closest to Trump personally \u2014 witnesses may become less cooperative in other parts of the probe, or the president may move to shut it down altogether.<\/p>\n

The revelation is a peek into Mueller\u2019s calculations as he proceeds with his many-headed probe, while pressure builds from the president\u2019s advisers and other Republicans to show progress or wrap it up.<\/p>\n

The obstruction portion of the probe could likely be completed after several key outstanding interviews, including with the president and his son, Donald Trump Jr. The president\u2019s lawyers have been negotiating with Mueller\u2019s team<\/a> over such an encounter since late last year. But even if Trump testifies in the coming weeks, Mueller may make a strategic calculation to keep his findings on obstruction secret, according to the current and former U.S. officials, who discussed the strategy on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Any clear outcome of the obstruction inquiry could be used against Mueller: Filing charges against Trump or his family could prompt the president to take action to fire him. Publicly clearing Trump of obstruction charges \u2014 as the president\u2019s lawyers have requested \u2014 could be used by his allies to build pressure for the broader investigation to be shut down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As much as I want to see Mueller hump on Trump NOW, I see the wisdom in waiting. RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/span><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/span>The Trump administration is putting the finishing touches on its long-awaited Middle East peace plan, three senior officials said on Sunday, and President Trump is likely to present it soon, despite risking swift rejection by the Palestinians and having already taken on another of the world\u2019s thorniest disputes, with North Korea.<\/p>\n

While the exact timing of the plan\u2019s release is still not set, these officials said, the most immediate challenge for the White House is how to roll it out so that it is not proclaimed dead on arrival.<\/p>\n

This is why it will be dead on arrival.\u00a0 The Trump plan would do for Palestinians what the Wannsee Conference did for Jews. RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\"0312Cartoon\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s another warm, sunny day here at the CatBox.\u00a0 I have not recovered from sproinging yet, so I’m going to get as much rest as I can, until my routine follow-up appointment on Friday.\u00a0 I got my test results back.\u00a0 My A1C is 7.0, which is a tiny bit high, but very well controlled for […]<\/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-31739","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\/31739","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=31739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}