{"id":33027,"date":"2018-07-08T13:06:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T20:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=33027"},"modified":"2018-07-08T13:06:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T20:06:40","slug":"open-thread-7-8-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/08\/open-thread-7-8-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 7\/8\/2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s very muggy here in the CatBox.  WWWendy is cooking up a tray of super hot taco pasta, specially designed for northward travel.  Enjoy Your Sunday.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 4:33 (average 5:01).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From Newsweek<\/a>: <\/font>Throughout the country, a record number of white nationalists and anti-Semites are running for election this year, many of whom have shown no signs of hiding their views. Among them is John Fitzgerald, who since winning enough votes in June to compete for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives this November has reportedly<\/a> appeared on several neo-Nazi podcasts.<\/p>\n

Last month, Fitzgerald came second in a top-two primary<\/a> with nearly 25 percent of the vote, which was more than 20,000 votes, and will face off against incumbent Democrat Mark DeSaulnier in November’s midterms. After the primary, the California Republican Party said they do not support the Holocaust-denier who is running as a Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe California Republican Party\u2019s Board of Directors took swift and decisive action to eliminate any support for John Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n

Now that Republicans have the candidate they wanted, they are just pretending they don’t want him. RESIST<\/strong>!! VOTE BLUE<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Politifact<\/a>: <\/font>Most political scientists we spoke to said Democrats have no procedural tools at their disposal to delay a Supreme Court confirmation until the midterms.<\/p>\n

However, there is an extreme and untested option Senate Democrats could use to try to block the vote, according to Gregory Koger, a political science professor at University of Miami.<\/p>\n

At least 51 Senators must be present in the chamber to establish a quorum, the minimum number of members needed to debate and vote. Without a quorum, no business can be conducted. That includes confirmation votes on Supreme Court nominees.<\/p>\n

While Republicans currently hold 51 seats, Arizona Sen. John McCain\u2019s failing health has prevented him from voting since last December. If all 47 Democrats (and two Independents) agreed not to attend, Republicans would be unable to maintain a quorum, rendering them unable to confirm a nominee.<\/p>\n

Bust the Quorum!! RESIST<\/strong>!! VOTE BLUE<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From The New Yorker<\/a>: <\/font>Former President George W. Bush is eagerly counting down the days until he is no longer the worst President in U.S. history, Bush confirmed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters at his home, Bush said that he \u201ccould hardly wait\u201d until Friday, when he will be officially bounced from the worst-President slot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to admit, I never thought I\u2019d see this day in my lifetime,\u201d the former President said. \u201cWhen you leave office with the nation in smoldering ruins, you sort of come to accept that you\u2019re gonna be worst for a long, long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could say I set the bar kind of high, worst-wise,\u201d he chuckled.<\/p>\n

As the returns came in on Election Night, however, the former President suddenly realized that his days as the worst President in U.S. history might be coming to an abrupt end.<\/p>\n

But Andy, Bush will still be the worst President in history, and Trump, the worst Resident. RESIST<\/strong>!! VOTE BLUE<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

It’s very muggy here in the CatBox.  WWWendy is cooking up a tray of super hot taco pasta, specially designed for northward travel.  Enjoy Your Sunday. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today’s took me 4:33 (average 5:01).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From Newsweek: Throughout the country, a record number of […]<\/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-33027","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\/33027","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=33027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}