{"id":34686,"date":"2018-12-14T13:55:32","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T21:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=34686"},"modified":"2018-12-14T13:55:34","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T21:55:34","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-14-december-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/14\/squatchs-open-thread-14-december-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open Thread 14 December 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is Thursday evening and I am getting a start on the OT because I am getting a haircut Friday morning.\u00a0 It will be great to be able to see the computer screen and keyboard again!\u00a0 Well Winnie did very well at the vet’s today.\u00a0 \u00a0His spot glucose reading was 6.4 perfect for a cat’s range, and his fructosamine results won’t likely be available until late Friday.\u00a0 At this point, there are no more vet appointments until his annual checkup in May.\u00a0 He is diet controlled, and hopefully, he’ll lose a little more weight which will help things immensely.\u00a0 Oh how I hate that last word — Trump uses it to such excess!\u00a0 Friday noon: Winnie’s results were wonderful and he is officially classed as “in remission”.\u00a0 The haircut did not happen (no hairdresser) so I’ll have resort to ponytails pretty soon.\u00a0 That should be fun.\u00a0 I’ll look like these little girls, babies really, who have 3 cm (9~1 in) ponytails all over their heads!\u00a0 Have a good weekend and stay safe!<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:37 (average 8:07). To do it, click here<\/strong><\/a>. How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

TC\u2019s took me 4:32 (average 5:26). To do it, click here<\/strong><\/a>. How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

AlterNet<\/span><\/strong><\/a> —\u00a0“The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person,\u00a0it would be Ayn Rand<\/a>.” That’s freshly minted GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan talking —\u00a0statements he would eventually<\/a>\u00a0recant —\u00a0at a party celebrating what would have been the prolific author’s 100th birthday,<\/p>\n

Rand’s books are a big driver in the long-term right-wing campaign to delude millions of people into believing that there’s no such thing as society — that everyone must look out only for themselves.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0<\/strong>How Ayn Rand Seduced Generations of Young Men and Helped Make the U.S. Into a Selfish, Greedy Nation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“When I was a kid,” AlterNet contribuer Bruce Levine writes, “my reading included comic books and Rand\u2019s\u00a0The Fountainhead<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Atlas Shrugged<\/em>. There wasn\u2019t much difference between the comic books and Rand\u2019s novels in terms of the simplicity of the heroes. What was different was that unlike Superman or Batman, Rand made selfishness heroic, and she made caring about others weakness.”<\/p>\n

Bruce Levine’s explanation of how Rand has captured the minds of so many is a must-read. “While Harriet Beecher Stowe shamed Americans about the United State\u2019s dehumanization of African Americans and slavery, Ayn Rand removed Americans\u2019 guilt for being selfish and uncaring about anyone except themselves. Not only did Rand make it ‘moral’ for the wealthy not to pay their fair share of taxes, she ‘liberated’ millions of other Americans from caring about the suffering of others, even the suffering of their own children.”<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong>\u00a0Billionaires and Corporations Use Rand’s Writings<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0To Brainwash College Students<\/a><\/strong>
\nPam Martens reported that Charles Koch, who pushes “millions of dollars through his foundation into economic programs at public universities and mandating approval of faculty and curriculum in some instances,” partnered with the “southern banking giant BB&T … mandating that Ayn Rand\u2019s book Atlas Shrugged is taught and distributed to students.”<\/p>\n

Click through for the other 8 influences of Ayn Rand.\u00a0 I have always seen American capitalism as almost cruel and exploitative.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Republicans display this same exploitative trait showing total disregard for the working, poor and middle classes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Atlantic<\/strong><\/span><\/a> —\u00a0Opposition is building against a Trump-administration plan to allow certain groups of protected Vietnamese immigrants to be deported, a day after\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em>\u00a0reported that the U.S. is reinterpreting an agreement with Vietnam that shielded some of them from being moved out of the country.<\/p>\n

\n
In the latest sign of growing worry over the efforts, a group of at least 22 members of Congress have signed a letter addressed to the White House, as well as the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, to express \u201cdeep concern\u201d over attempts to rework the 2008 accord between the U.S. and Vietnam. John Kerry, a former secretary of state and Vietnam War veteran, echoed those concerns, calling the shift \u201cdespicable.\u201d That deal protected Vietnamese nationals who came to the United States before July 12, 1995, and committed crimes during their time in the U.S., from the threat of deportation. That specific date, which was when Washington and Hanoi established diplomatic relations, covered those fleeing the Vietnam War. In essence, the Trump administration has now said it believes that the agreement allows for a wider number of Vietnamese migrants to be deported.<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
In their letter, the 22 lawmakers\u2014all Democratic members of the House of Representatives\u2014 acknowledged that many young Vietnamese refugees, upon arrival in the United States, \u201cwere resettled in struggling neighborhoods without support or resources to cope with significant trauma from the [Vietnam] war.\u201d\u00a0 …<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They added that the \u201crefugees have completed their time and are now positively contributing to their communities.\u201d Deporting them, the lawmakers said, would return the immigrants to a country they are not familiar with. They urged the Trump administration \u201cto honor the humanitarian spirit and intention embodied in the current agreement.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
Click through for more.\u00a0 WTH!!!\u00a0 The last US troops pulled out of Vietnam in March 1973 and\u00a0Direct\u00a0U.S.<\/b>\u00a0military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case\u2013Church Amendment passed by the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Congress.\u00a0 It was not until April 1975 that Saigon was taken by the communist North Vietnamese.\u00a0 There had been some South Vietnamese airlifted out of Vietnam — those who had worked with the Americans — when US personnel were airlifted out.\u00a0 But most were caught in Vietnam.\u00a0 That is when North America saw a big influx of “boat people” — Vietnamese who paid snakeheads thousands of dollars to get them out of Vietnam.\u00a0 Many of the boats were not fit for travel across the Pacific but people were desperate.\u00a0 I was on a committee at my church trying to help resettle these migrants from war and communism.\u00a0 That was more than 40 years ago!\u00a0 So why has bone spur Donnie decided it is time to involve himself in the Vietnam war?\u00a0 Some reporters have posited that Stephen Miller is behind this.\u00a0 Many of the approximate 5,000 people targeted have paid their debt and are members of the community.\u00a0 So why drag up old history?\u00a0 Racism!\u00a0 They are not white!\u00a0 Bone spur Donnie must be stopped.<\/span><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
The Daily Beast<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0—\u00a0The New Jersey attorney general\u2019s office is looking into claims of \u201charassment and immigration fraud\u201d\u00a0at President Trump\u2019s Bedminster golf course, a lawyer for undocumented current and former employees told the\u00a0New York Daily News<\/em>. Anibal Romero, lawyer for housekeeper\u00a0Victorina Morales<\/a>, told the newspaper the attorney general\u2019s office \u201creached out to him\u201d\u00a0regarding claims that five of his clients were \u201cthreatened and\u00a0called racial slurs<\/a>\u201d\u00a0while working at Bedminster. His clients also allege that fraudulent documents, like work permits, were provided by the Bedminster staff, and that staff \u201cthreatened to report them to federal authorities if they spoke out.\u201d<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
And this surprises who exactly?\u00a0 This is not the first time.\u00a0 Trump thinks he is above the law, but he is not!<\/span><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

My Universe<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Les Folies Berg\u00e8re?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

It is Thursday evening and I am getting a start on the OT because I am getting a haircut Friday morning.\u00a0 It will be great to be able to see the computer screen and keyboard again!\u00a0 Well Winnie did very well at the vet’s today.\u00a0 \u00a0His spot glucose reading was 6.4 perfect for a cat’s […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-politics","category-35-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\/34686","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}