{"id":35715,"date":"2019-02-18T09:40:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T17:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=35715"},"modified":"2019-02-18T09:40:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T17:40:51","slug":"open-thread-2-18-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/18\/open-thread-2-18-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread &#8211; 2\/18\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">It&#8217;s a cold day here in the CatBox, as Portland us under a freezing fog watch.&nbsp; That often brings black ice.&nbsp; I&#8217;m sure glad I don&#8217;t have to go out today.&nbsp; Oh God It&#8217;s Monday!<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Today&#8217;s took me 3:33 (average 5:06).&nbsp; To do it, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jigzone.com\/puzzles\/2019-02-18-CE2504A965A9\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.&nbsp; How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PSxwqBJLU8A&amp;list=PLsgVL35jv95Tl-T2rOMIjzhc0LaGMf20Y&amp;index=34\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a>: <\/font>The Seekers &#8211; A World of our Own<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/PSxwqBJLU8A\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Ah the memories\u2026 A world of our one is one in which atmospheric carbon is decreasing, and every Republican politician is unemployed. <strong>RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font>  <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><\/font>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/02\/17\/world\/europe\/trump-international-relations-munich.html\" target=\"_blank\">NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>European leaders have long been alarmed that President Trump\u2019s words and Twitter messages could undo a trans-Atlantic alliance that had grown stronger over seven decades. They had clung to the hope that those ties would bear up under the strain.  <\/p>\n<p>But in the last few days of a prestigious annual security conference in Munich, the rift between Europe and the Trump administration became open, angry and concrete, diplomats and analysts say.  <\/p>\n<p>A senior German official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on such matters, shrugged his shoulders and said: \u201cNo one any longer believes that Trump cares about the views or interests of the allies. It\u2019s broken.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>The most immediate danger, diplomats and intelligence officials warned, is that the trans-Atlantic fissures now risk being exploited by Russia and China.  <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I have no doubt that Putin&#8217;s pervert is pushing Europe away to align with Russia. <strong>RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font>  <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/state\/2019\/02\/17\/jeff-merkley-worries-republicans-could-target-his-senate-seat-if-he-runs-for-president\/\" target=\"_blank\">Willamette Week<\/a>: <\/font>In an interview this week, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) offered a new reason he might not run for president: fear that if he doesn&#8217;t seek reelection to the Senate, that could provide an opening for Republicans.  <\/p>\n<p>It sounds a little odd in a state that has elected precisely one Republican to statewide office since 2002.  <\/p>\n<p>Merkley told the <a href=\"https:\/\/nwlaborpress.org\/2019\/02\/heart-to-heart-with-u-s-senator-jeff-merkley\/\" target=\"_blank\">NW Labor Press<\/a> that he&#8217;s still weighing his options.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Because others may run,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;The Republicans may get an opportunity to have a strong candidate. And I cannot let an Oregon Senate seat go to someone who is fighting for the privileged and powerful.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>Oregon does not allow a name to appear on the ballot for two different offices.  <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I&#8217;d like to see Jeff become better known before making a Presidential run in a year in which he does not have to give up his Senate seat to run. Assuming we win in 2020, 2028 would be a good year for it. <strong>RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font>  <\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font>  <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/0218Cartoon.jpg\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a cold day here in the CatBox, as Portland us under a freezing fog watch.&nbsp; That often brings black ice.&nbsp; I&#8217;m sure glad I don&#8217;t have to go out today.&nbsp; Oh God It&#8217;s Monday! Jig Zone Puzzle: Today&#8217;s took me 3:33 (average 5:06).&nbsp; To do it, click here.&nbsp; How did you do? Short Takes: <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/18\/open-thread-2-18-2019\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","category-35-id","category-3-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\/35715","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}