{"id":34678,"date":"2018-12-17T11:13:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T19:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=34678"},"modified":"2018-12-17T11:13:25","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T19:13:25","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-17-december-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/17\/squatchs-open-thread-17-december-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open Thread 17 December 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Monday morning — OGIM!!! — and I tried to get this OT out yesterday but couldn’t.\u00a0 It rained here yesterday like there was no tomorrow.\u00a0 We could have floated Noah’s Ark in some places.\u00a0 I see Puddy Tat has been in already so people have their reading set for Monday.\u00a0 I will likely not be posting for a few days at least since the news cycle will thin out during Christmas and I need to explore our new Word Press updates.\u00a0 Have a good week as you prepare for all the festivities ahead!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:31 (average 6:03). To do it, click here<\/strong><\/a>. How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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

AlterNet<\/span><\/strong><\/a> —\u00a0In a ruling that was quickly dubbed as “insane” by critics, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the entirety of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 also known as “Obamacare” \u2014 was unconstitutional.<\/p>\r\n

It appears the law will still technically be in place while the case goes through appeals, however.<\/p>\r\n

Judge Reed O’Connor had been expected to rule against the law, brought by Republican states attorneys general, but the scope of his ruling Friday night still shocked many observers. The lawsuit he heard targeted the law’s individual mandate, which sets a tax penalty for every who American who doesn’t sign up for health insurance.<\/p>\r\n

The mandate had already been upheld by the Supreme Court, so it would have seemed that the lawsuit was pointless. It seems even more pointless because last year the Republicans voted to set the cost of the individual mandate to zero, effectively nullifying it.<\/p>\r\n

Click through . . . it gets even more insane.\u00a0 Judge O’Connor\u00a0is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and was nominated by George W. Bush in 2007.\u00a0 If this was a lifetime appointment, he has a long way to go before retirement since he is only 53 years old.\u00a0 Think Progress<\/strong><\/a> had this to say about O’Connor:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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The Republican officials filed their case in Fort Worth, Texas, where the\u00a0only active federal district judge<\/a>\u00a0is Reed O\u2019Connor, a\u00a0highly partisan judge<\/a>\u00a0with a long history of\u00a0striking down Democratic policies on spurious legal reasoning<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Of course, this morning, Trump has jumped in on this decision with his usual plethora of lies with his tweets.\u00a0 Responses to his tweets can be seen HERE<\/strong><\/a> and they are good!\u00a0 A sac of hammers would appear to have more brains than O’Connor.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Think Progress<\/strong><\/a> —\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Democrat who takes over chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee next month, called Sunday for the overhaul of legal guidelines that currently protect presidents from criminal prosecution.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI think we should always reconsider laws and regulations, and this is one we definitely should reconsider,\u201d\u00a0Cummings told CNN\u2019s\u00a0State of the Union<\/em>. …<\/p>\r\n