{"id":34963,"date":"2018-12-18T12:40:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=34963"},"modified":"2018-12-18T12:48:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:48:31","slug":"squatchs-18-december-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/18\/squatchs-18-december-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch&#8217;s Open Thread 18 December 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Well I said I wasn&#8217;t going to around for a few days while I studied the new WordPress updates, but the WordPress gods listened and rolled back the updates.\u00a0 Either that or TomCat rolled back the plug-in.\u00a0 In either case, <strong>HALLELUJAH!!!\u00a0 <\/strong>So here I am.\u00a0 Have a safe and good day!<\/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 3:41 (average 5:53). To do it,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jigzone.com\/puzzles\/E0055D4BE2EB\" 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\/news-amp-politics\/end-road-former-gop-lawmaker-explains-why-trump-flailing-and-doesnt-know-what-do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>AlterNet<\/strong><\/span><\/a> &#8212;\u00a0Former GOP congressman David Jolly of Florida explained Monday why Trump is struggling to come up with a coherent defense from his emerging legal challenges: He&#8217;s never faced anything like this before.\u00a0 &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Donald Trump has this long career of having to navigate civil matters, where you pay people off, you pay settlements, you reach private agreements. But it&#8217;s always monetary. The reason he&#8217;s flailing is no amount of money can turn off the SDNY case. No amount of money can turn off Bob Mueller.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Here is MSNBC&#8217;s Nicole Wallace and guests discussing the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bPrc1cwUq24?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Around the 6:30 mark, James Comey comments on some of Trump&#8217;s tweets &#8212; &#8220;This is not about Republicans or Democrats.\u00a0 This is what it means to be an American. &#8230; about a set of values that represent the glue of this country &#8230; they are under attack &#8230;&#8221; &#8212; This is so in keeping with Comey&#8217;s values as seen in his book &#8220;A Higher Loyalty&#8221; which I certainly recommend reading.\u00a0 David Jolly is a former Republican congressman who left the Republican party in January 2018 &#8212; I guess he had enough of the Trump bubble machine and bull shit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Further on, Giuliani says&#8221;&#8230; yeah, he changed his [Cohen] story 4 or 5 times,&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">George Stephanopoulos: &#8220;So did the president.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Giuliani: &#8220;but he&#8217;s not under oath.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2018\/12\/18\/1819878\/-Donald-Trump-forced-to-close-his-charity-due-to-persistently-illegal-conduct-to-benefit-family\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Daily Kos<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a> &#8212;\u00a0The Trump Foundation has been sketchy from the day it launched in 1988. The board of directors consist of the Trump family members Don Sr., Eric, Donald Jr.,\u00a0Ivanka, and Trump Organization CEO Allen Weisselberg, who recently received immunity and\u00a0is currently cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s office.\u00a0The so-called charity has no office, no staff and the board hasn\u2019t met since 1999.\u00a0Donald Trump himself hasn\u2019t even made a single donation to his own charity since 2008. Not a penny. While some outside the Trump family were donating to it, the Trump family was using the fund to pay for events held at . . . you guessed it\u2014Trump\u00a0properties.\u00a0 &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>In June\u00a02018, AG Underwood filed suit seeking to close down the foundation due to\u00a0<a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/trump-agrees-to-shut-down-his-charity-amid-allegations-he-used-it-for-personal-and-political-benefit\/2018\/12\/18\/dd3f5030-021b-11e9-9122-82e98f91ee6f_story.html?utm_term=.a394712b0b9a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cpersistently illegal conduct.\u201d\u00a0<\/a>Today the Trump family has announced they will be shutting it down and distributing any remaining funds.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I for one hope that the NYAG is 1) co\u00f6rdinating the shutdown and distribution of the remaining funds; and 2) going after the full restitution of all contributions made by non family donors plus interest and penalties.\u00a0 As commentor Pat B likes to say, &#8220;drip, Drip, DRIP!!!&#8221;\u00a0 I wonder if the 17 current investigations into Trump includes this one, or is this number eighteen?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/trump-administration-uses-school-safety-to-justify-rollback-of-protections-for-students-of-color-d3b93bd2a32d\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Think Progress<\/strong><\/span><\/a> &#8212;\u00a0The Trump administration is getting ready to use the tragedy of school shootings to justify the rollback of Obama-era guidance that address disproportionate discipline of students of color and students with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>During the school safety panel\u2019s wrap-up meeting on Tuesday, it said schools should coordinate more with law enforcement and have programs to arm school personnel, &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>School shootings put public pressure on the administration to act. After the shooting of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on Valentine\u2019s Day, there were numerous calls for change to gun policies across the United States. Students, parents, and community members\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/march-for-our-lives-crowd-trump-inauguration-d57dd1c70337\/\">marched<\/a>, made calls to members of Congress and state lawmakers, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/student-activists-march-for-our-lives-voter-mobilization-df85985f3f04\/\">registered voters<\/a>. During some of these marches calling for new gun policies, students\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/student-protest-gun-violence-4a7f42670d32\/\">risked discipline<\/a>\u00a0from their schools. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>There isn\u2019t a lot of evidence to support the idea that zero tolerance policies are effective in reducing school disruptions or keeping kids in school, according to experts on school discipline who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/betsy-devos-gun-violence-shooting-school-to-prison-pipeline-543ea89f83eb\/\">spoke with<\/a>\u00a0ThinkProgress in March.<\/p>\n<p>Russell Skiba, a professor of school psychology at Indiana University who works with schools to address changes to student discipline practices,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/betsy-devos-gun-violence-shooting-school-to-prison-pipeline-543ea89f83eb\/\">told<\/a>ThinkProgress at the time,\u00a0\u201cIn fact, the data shows that places that implement more suspensions and expulsion have higher rates of dropout, lower achievement, and are more likely to result in referral to juvenile justice.\u201d &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Arrington [18 year old public school student and co-founder of the\u00a0One Pennsylvania Youth Power Collective] added, \u201cWe believe schools have to divest from school policing and instead increase funding for more guidance counselors, mental health supports, restorative justice, and higher pay for our teachers who are already in such a stressful position. We have to stop building the school-to-prison pipeline and by adding armed police to schools, we are not going to create a supportive more inclusive schooling environment in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Trump said &#8220;we have the best people&#8221; when talking about advisers and cabinet appointees.\u00a0 Surely he was not talking about Betsy DeVos!\u00a0 Is this one of Trump&#8217;s infrastructure projects . . . the school-to-prison pipeline?\u00a0 This is all about rolling back anything created by Obama.\u00a0 Oh and creating more revenues for the for-profit prison system.\u00a0 Have Democrats got their hands full countering this racist, bigoted r\u00e9gime of screw-ups!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">My Universe<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/h67AD50C2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Ain&#8217;t that the truth!\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Just try ignoring those fur balls!<\/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>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Posted to Care2 <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.care2.com\/news\/member\/775377582\/4131106\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well I said I wasn&#8217;t going to around for a few days while I studied the new WordPress updates, but the WordPress gods listened and rolled back the updates.\u00a0 Either that or TomCat rolled back the plug-in.\u00a0 In either case, HALLELUJAH!!!\u00a0 So here I am.\u00a0 Have a safe and good day! Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/18\/squatchs-18-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-34963","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\/34963","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=34963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}