{"id":33312,"date":"2018-08-05T13:10:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-05T20:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=33312"},"modified":"2018-08-05T13:10:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-05T20:10:43","slug":"open-thread-8-5-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/08\/05\/open-thread-8-5-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 8\/5\/2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a busy Sunday.  WWWendy is due in half an hour, and we have lots to do, including the dreaded task.  With the return of the heat, the TomCat is fouler than normal.  It’s a little slow for news, but I was able to find enough material.  Sunday hugs!<\/font><\/p>\n

Wendy left a few minutes ago, and I’m pooped!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 5:24 (average 6:44).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From CNN<\/a>: <\/font>As President Donald Trump’s legal team continued its will-he-or-won’t-he dance this week on a sit-down interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, a federal judge in Washington issued a tome on why Mueller’s appointment was rock-solid in the first place.<\/p>\n

Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s decision is not entirely novel; it falls in line with two other district court judges in DC<\/a> and Virginia<\/a> who have rejected challenges to Mueller’s appointment. But her robust analysis<\/a> guts a potential avenue for Trump’s defense team at a critical time, as the President calls for the probe to end<\/a>, his lawyers continue to negotiate<\/a> over the scope of an interview, and speculation mounts about whether Mueller will ultimately serve Trump with a subpoena to testify.<\/p>\n

Legal experts say that while Trump’s legal team still has other arguments to make on why he should not have to sit down with the special counsel, the door on challenging Mueller’s legitimacy appears to be nearly closed.<\/p>\n

Anything that tightens the Fuhrer’s noose is fine with me. Click through for details about the decision. RESIST<\/strong>!! VOTE BLUE<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>A federal judge slammed the Trump administration\u2019s foot-dragging in reuniting parents and young children separated under the government\u2019s harsh immigration policies, calling the slow progress in reunifying families \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Dana Sabraw rejected the administration\u2019s efforts to pass the task of reuniting immigrant parents and children to the American Civil Liberties Union, saying in a hearing conducted by telephone late Friday that the government is \u201c100 percent\u201d responsible for bringing back together the families that it ripped apart with its \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy.<\/p>\n

What nerve! Racist Republicans want ACLU donors to pay for the effect of the Republican hate crime, so they can spend the money on welfare for billionaires. RESIST<\/strong>!! VOTE BLUE<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

From Axios<\/a>: <\/font>President Trump tweeted Sunday morning [Liar delinked] about the now-infamous June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Russians and Trump campaign officials, including his son, Donald Trump Jr.<\/p>\n

\n

"Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!"<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why it matters<\/strong>: Trump and his son have repeatedly changed their stance<\/a> on the purpose of the 2016 meeting. In a statement to The New York Times<\/a> last July, which investigators now know was dictated by President Trump, Don Jr. said the meeting was primarily about Russian adoptions. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has also claimed<\/a> that the president approved the meeting ahead of time.  [emphasis original<\/em>]<\/p>\n

There WAS collusion! RESIST<\/strong>!! VOTE BLUE<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

It’s a busy Sunday.  WWWendy is due in half an hour, and we have lots to do, including the dreaded task.  With the return of the heat, the TomCat is fouler than normal.  It’s a little slow for news, but I was able to find enough material.  Sunday hugs! Wendy left a few minutes ago, […]<\/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-33312","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\/33312","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=33312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}