{"id":34690,"date":"2018-12-07T12:03:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T20:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=34690"},"modified":"2018-12-08T00:39:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-08T08:39:15","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-07-december-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/07\/squatchs-open-thread-07-december-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch&#8217;s Open Thread 07 December 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Well it is Friday and the weekend is nigh!\u00a0 For we retirees, every day is a weekend so I am oft reminded by my working friends.\u00a0 Sometimes I am busier now than I was when I was working.\u00a0 TomCat moved yesterday and is busy getting his new digs organised, and organised he&#8217;ll have to be since the new place is smaller.\u00a0 He&#8217;ll likely be a few days yet before he is back online.\u00a0 TGIF!!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Jig Zone Puzzle:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Today\u2019s took me 4:09 (average 5:07). To do it,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jigzone.com\/puzzles\/8B055D5AFE95?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>click here<\/strong><\/a>. How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Yesterday&#8217;s took me 3:57 (average 4:48). To do it,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jigzone.com\/puzzles\/F4055D59FEF4?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>click here<\/strong><\/a>. How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Short Takes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/there-might-be-something-there-fox-news-hosts-admit-things-are-starting-seem-little-weird-trump-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">AlterNet<\/span><\/strong><\/a> &#8212;\u00a0While Fox News hosts often beat the drum for Donald Trump\u2019s administration, during a segment on \u201cOutnumbered\u201d Monday, the hosts Lisa Kennedy Montgomery and Harris Faulkner (who were joined by Melissa Francis and Marie Harf) appeared to briefly acknowledge that special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s Russia investigation isn\u2019t without merit.\u00a0 &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere might be something there,\u201d Montgomery asserted. \u201cThere absolutely might be something there. We don\u2019t know what Mueller has; he might have something. Things are starting to seem a little weird.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Stop the presses!\u00a0\u00a0Stop the presses!\u00a0 A Faux Noise commentator does not want to be Trump&#8217;s carnival barker and actually thinks it is prudent to wait to see what Mueller has.\u00a0 I think I&#8217;ve got the vapours . . . I&#8217;m in shock.\u00a0 David Cay Johnston&#8217;s 2016 book &#8220;The Making of Donald Trump&#8221; is excellent in its description of Trump&#8217;s\u00a0 association with unsavoury characters throughout his career.\u00a0 He recently updated the afterword to include the first year of Trump&#8217;s r\u00e9gime.\u00a0 Below is a video of Johnston in discussion with Joy Reid talking about Trump.\u00a0 Please note that this episode of AM Joy is from January 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pWohqhZefBs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">May more of the Faux Noise commentators come to their senses as Mueller&#8217;s investigation continues to unfold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4vOVnT1Z6Yc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Daily Beast<\/strong><\/span><\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Mueller? Mueller? Act 1 Full Frontal 05 December 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4vOVnT1Z6Yc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Later, she added, \u201cOne Trump associate after the other is turning out to be in deep, deep trouble. So this holiday season, as the Trumps gather around the blood tree, Trump will probably be at least a little afraid that it will be his last Christmas in the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Barf Bag Alert!!!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Trump-JR-tree-topper.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Don Trump Jr&#8217;s Christmas tree topper as they all sit around the blood tree.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Picture from <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/news-amp-politics\/donald-trump-jr-shared-ridiculous-christmas-meme-about-his-father-and-takedowns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>AlterNet<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I cannot bring you the rest of the show as I can&#8217;t find it on-line.\u00a0 However, Sam is on the mark isn&#8217;t she!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-ca\/news\/newspolitics\/trump-on-coming-debt-crisis-%E2%80%98i-won%E2%80%99t-be-here%E2%80%99-when-it-blows-up\/ar-BBQxZjE?li=AAggNb9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Daily Beast<\/span><\/strong><\/a> &#8212;\u00a0Sources close to the president say he has repeatedly shrugged it off, implying that he doesn\u2019t have to worry about the money owed to America\u2019s creditors\u2014currently about $21 trillion\u2014because he won\u2019t be around to shoulder the blame when it becomes even more untenable.<\/p>\n<p>The friction came to a head in early 2017 when senior officials offered Trump charts and graphics laying out the numbers and showing a \u201chockey stick\u201d spike in the national debt in the not-too-distant future. In response, Trump noted that the data suggested the debt would reach a critical mass only after his possible second term in office.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cYeah, but I won\u2019t be here,\u201d<\/strong> the president bluntly said, according to a source who was in the room when Trump made this comment during discussions on the debt. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was why, when he was confronted with these nightmare scenarios on the debt, I think he rejected them, because if you grow the economy\u2026 you don\u2019t have a debt problem,\u201d Moore continued. \u201cI know a few times when people would bring up the enormous debt, he would say, \u2018We\u2019re gonna grow our way out of it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moore has since championed this approach to tackling the debt as a key part of \u201cTrumponomics,\u201d &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Trumponomics???\u00a0 In Trump&#8217;s business life, he has had 6 bankruptcies as outlined in <strong><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/truth-o-meter\/statements\/2016\/jun\/21\/hillary-clinton\/yep-donald-trumps-companies-have-declared-bankrupt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PolitiFact<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>but while various different scenarios were at play, the one common thread was Trump.\u00a0 He seems to me to have a rather cavalier attitude towards debt.\u00a0 Now that attitude is showing up in his role as POTUS and his lack of concern about the national debt.\u00a0 &#8220;<strong>Yeah, but I won\u2019t be here,<\/strong>&#8221; being his reply.\u00a0 The minority shareholders, the American people, are the ones left to shoulder the debt.\u00a0 From <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/heres-who-owns-a-record-2121-trillion-of-us-debt-2018-08-21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>MarketWatch<\/strong><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ei.marketwatch.com\/Multimedia\/2018\/08\/21\/Photos\/MG\/MW-GO672_nation_20180821130954_MG.jpg?uuid=05b585b6-a565-11e8-b6ab-ac162d7bc1f7\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">As you can see, Americans own the majority of the debt.\u00a0 This complicated topic is not easy to discuss and understand, but clearly Trump does not have a clue, and what&#8217;s worse, he appears not to care.\u00a0 Republicans, who were so quick to attack Obama on the national debt levels, need to put Trump on an economic leash and walk back the corporate tax breaks which corporations are squandering rather than re-investing, just for starters.\u00a0 I am sure more extreme proposals are in the offing from Republicans.\u00a0 So buckle-up!!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Cartoon\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8212; Let&#8217;s ensure this does not happen again!\u00a0 Enough war!\u00a0 Enough death and destruction!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pearl-Harbour.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>My Universe\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>(&#8230;or is this TC&#8217;s Universe?)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"695\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cmjil6BxOqI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">TomCat moving!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/resist_2.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Posted to Care2 <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.care2.com\/news\/member\/775377582\/4129631\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well it is Friday and the weekend is nigh!\u00a0 For we retirees, every day is a weekend so I am oft reminded by my working friends.\u00a0 Sometimes I am busier now than I was when I was working.\u00a0 TomCat moved yesterday and is busy getting his new digs organised, and organised he&#8217;ll have to be <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/07\/squatchs-open-thread-07-december-2018\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/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-34690","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\/34690","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=34690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}