{"id":34437,"date":"2018-11-24T16:13:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T00:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=34437"},"modified":"2018-11-24T16:56:30","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T00:56:30","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-24-november-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/11\/24\/squatchs-open-thread-24-november-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open Thread 24 November 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sorry I did not feel up to posting an OT yesterday.\u00a0 I have had an on again, off again acquaintance with flu\/cold for the past week or so.\u00a0 Yesterday was definitely a down day so I stayed down.\u00a0 Feeling a bit more energetic today.\u00a0 Nameless posted an update on TC HERE<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 WWWendy provided an update too:<\/span><\/p>\n

Hello all this is an update from Wendy. Tom has been out of circulation for the last few days wanted to let everyone know that I had to take him to the hospital for admittance on Thanksgiving day. Tom is doing well and he is where he needs to be but is Recovering from a respiratory infection. He asked that no one spend any money on him please\u2026 He will be in the hospital probably till the beginning of next week. I will try and keep you updated all of your thoughts and prayers are appreciated<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tomorrow, there will likely be no OT as I am babysitting my little Sareena this evening and have church in the morning which will make researching a post difficult.\u00a0 I will post again come Monday for sure.\u00a0 As to today’s short takes, the last one should be a stand alone article but I just don’t have the time to separate it out.<\/span><\/p>\n

JigZone Puzzle<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 4:03 (average 4:41).\u00a0 To do it, click here<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday’s took me 4:05 (average 5:01).\u00a0 To do it, click here<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Maclean’s<\/strong><\/span><\/a> —\u00a0Scientists were dumbfounded by the discovery of an unusual new migratory pattern this week when a sizable portion of the U.S. population walked into the sea. Early on Wednesday evening, thousands and thousands of Americans just stopped, checked their phones and walked into the ocean.<\/p>\n

The mass migration began among individuals with immediate access to an ocean, but before long the phenomenon had spread across the nation. Landlocked Ocean-Walker-Into-Ers from not-coast to not-coast are making the long trek towards the ocean, planning, as the name suggests, to keep trekking right on into it when they get there.<\/p>\n

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Experts are mostly at a loss to explain the phenomenon. \u201cNope, I got nothing,\u201d said Dr. Christos Stewart, a research associate in evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago when contacted for comment. \u201cWith the famous exception of the Homo Sapiens Has A Timeshare In Floridius <\/i>subspecies, human beings are not known for these kinds of inexplicable migrations. Much like how we can\u2019t figure out why a person would willingly travel to Florida, we haven\u2019t the foggiest idea why all these people decided to up and walk into the ocean.\u201d …<\/p>\n

\u201cAs always we caution that correlation does not necessarily show causation, but in this case it does seem the inciting incident was a presidential tweet<\/a> sent out at 7:23 p.m. on Nov. 21,\u201d said Kirsten Stevens Professor of Spontaneous Aquatic Ambulation Studies at the University of Innsbruck. \u201cThe sidewalks, highways, shorelines started filling up at 7:24. Sadly, we\u2019ve yet to determine exactly what it was about this tweet that led to such an outsized reaction. To be honest, most of us around here are just happy to find our department so suddenly relevant. I guess this is what it felt like to be a Finnish forester <\/a>last weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The tweet in question read: \u201cBrutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS \u2013 Whatever happened to Global Warming?\u201d<\/div>\n
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Shades of Andy Borowitz!!!\u00a0 Click to read the entire satiric piece from Tabatha Southey @ Maclean’s, Canada’s well respected national magazine.\u00a0 At first, before reading it all, I thought of Trump supporters as lemmings to the sea.\u00a0 But one scientist postulates, \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a lot more research before we can be certain, but evidence suggests the one thing that these voluntary saltwater submergers seem to have in common is a capacity to feel shame.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Robert Reich<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — The \u201crule of law\u201d\u00a0distinguishes democracies from dictatorships. It\u2019s based on three fundamental principles.\u00a0Trump is violating every one of them.The first is that no person is above the law, not even a president.\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

The second principle of the rule of law is that a president cannot prosecute political opponents or critics.\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

The third principle of the rule of law is that a president must be respectful of the independence of the judiciary.<\/p>\n

As TC would say, the Reich on the left is right, although I much prefer the word ‘correct’ to avoid any ambiguity.\u00a0 Trump says the US is a nation of laws, but what he really means is that the US is a nation of laws of which he, and only he, approves.\u00a0 That sounds completely authoritarian or autocratic! Fascism has arrived in the US in the form of Donald J Trump, but it cannot be allowed to take hold!\u00a0 Click through for Reich’s reasoning.\u00a0 IMO, he is spot on!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

DC Report.org<\/strong><\/span><\/a> —\u00a0The New York Times disclosed on Tuesday night that Trump had told White House counsel Don McGahn in the spring that he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute Hillary Clinton and the former FBI director James B. Comey,<\/a> said <\/u>two people familiar with the conversation.<\/p>\n

Apparently, it was only because McGahn warned Trump he could face impeachment for doing so that Trump backed off.<\/p>\n

The most concerning part here is not the fate of Clinton or Comey, but the idea that Trump thinks ordering individual prosecutions by the Justice Department is perfectly normal. As The Times noted, \u201cThe encounter was one of the most blatant examples yet of how Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies. It took on additional significance in recent weeks when McGahn left the White House and Trump appointed a relatively inexperienced political loyalist, Matthew G. Whitaker, as the acting attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is all tit-for-tat, another diversion from the special counsel investigation that Trump himself faces. If he could launch another special counsel against political opponents, perhaps he thinks he could blunt the effects of the all-things-Russia probe. Of course, the fatal flaw here is that the Justice Department, through Comey, has already spoken on the Clinton matters, and there is no evidence of any crime. Comey may have leaked a memo, but it was not classified material.<\/p>\n

Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed, according to The Times\u2019 sources, Trump has continued to privately discuss the possible prosecutions and has also repeatedly expressed disappointment in FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, for failing to more aggressively investigate Clinton, calling him weak.<\/p>\n

In this first video, Ari Melber from MSMBC and his guests discuss Trump’s spat with Chief Justice John Roberts and his total disregard for an independent judiciary.<\/span><\/p>\n