{"id":38723,"date":"2020-01-19T07:44:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T15:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=38723"},"modified":"2020-01-19T07:44:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T15:44:24","slug":"open-thread-1-19-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2020\/01\/19\/open-thread-1-19-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread – 1\/19\/2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m hurrying to finish as much work as I can, before WWWendy arrives.  This afternoon, I’ll meditate on the Holy Ellipsoid Orb.  I’ll be rooting for the Chiefs in deference to one, who shall remain Nameless.  I’ll also prepare tomorrow’s articles in advance, except for the puzzle.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:12).  To do it, click here<\/a>. How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

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In case you forgot, RepubliCare is the Republican Reich plan to replace ObamaCare.<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: …<\/font>Trump\u2019s cold sweats are significant, because everyone who has been following this case knows that the Senate will acquit him. Not because he\u2019s innocent \u2014 no one who has actually consulted the evidence is foolish enough to believe that \u2014 but because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republicans who control the Senate decided long ago that they would cover up for their shamelessly corrupt president no matter what he does. With such an assured outcome, Trump\u2019s fears seem overblown and silly, even for someone crippled by sociopathic narcissism and its accompanying paranoia.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also true that high-profile travesties of justice, such as the one Senate Republicans are currently preparing to commit, can often provoke major political backlash. Getting a jury to acquit the obviously guilty can, as history shows, cause a public that\u2019s already outraged about the crime to get even more furious. That, I suspect, is what Trump is sweating. <\/p>\n

What the Senate is about to do is akin to the practice of jury nullification. That\u2019s where a jury decides that either they don\u2019t think the crime should be a crime at all, or that they believe people like the defendant should above the law, and so refuse to convict no matter how guilty the defendant is. This something that in theory, and sometimes in practice, can be used for good as when a jury refuses to throw someone in prison for a low-level drug offense, or refuses to enforce a law restricting free speech. But historically in the U.S., jury nullification has tended to be used to uphold injustice and reinforce racist or sexist systems of power…. <\/p>\n

As I so strongly implied yesterday, the Republican Reich is prepared to goose-step behind criminal Fuhrer Trump* into political extinction.  RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font> <\/p>\n

From YouTube<\/a> (CNN Channel<\/a>): <\/font>Senator makes prediction ahead of impeachment trial <\/p>\n