{"id":38997,"date":"2020-02-15T08:54:56","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T16:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=38997"},"modified":"2020-02-15T08:54:56","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T16:54:56","slug":"open-thread-2-15-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/15\/open-thread-2-15-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread&ndash;2\/15\/2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">It\u2019s another tired day here in the CatBox.&nbsp; I slept well last night, but I\u2019m pretty run down from a sleep deficit.&nbsp; I need more.&nbsp; Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, so please expect no more than an Open Thread.&nbsp; Have a great weekend.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:Today\u2019s took me 3:30 (average 4:57).&nbsp; To do it, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jigzone.com\/puzzles\/2020-02-15-CE2504A965A9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">click here<\/a>.&nbsp; How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><strong>Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/0215Cartoon.jpg\"><\/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=aeN_SIr9IDc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/msnbcleanforward\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MSNBC Channel<\/a>): <font color=\"#000000\">Michael Moore: \u2018Trump Is Very Beatable\u2019 In 2020<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/aeN_SIr9IDc\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Who remembers that Michael warned us that Trump* would beat Hillary in 2016? It pleases me to see him say that several Democrats can beat Trump* in 2020, if we do our share. Trump is not worthy of fear, unless Putin successfully puts him in again. The Democratic Party cannot afford to ignore any state in 2020!&nbsp; <strong>RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/2020\/02\/code-for-massive-cuts-audio-shows-gops-sen-joni-ernst-telling-donors-she-wants-changes-to-medicare-and-medicaid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alternet<\/a>: <font color=\"#000000\">\u201cAgain, Joni Ernst has shown that she is willing to push our families into poverty with a smile. The programs she plans to cut are a lifeline for millions of Americans. She should be ashamed.\u201d<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p>Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa told donors at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. last March that federal spending on non-discretionary programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is \u201cout of control\u201d and will require \u201cchanges\u201d in the future.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-87991124\/joni-ernst-on-debt-social-security-medicare\/s-0zyge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">55-second<\/a> audio clip <a href=\"https:\/\/iowastartingline.com\/2020\/02\/12\/ernst-audio-medicare-social-security-spending-out-of-control\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published<\/a> Wednesday by Iowa Starting Line. In the recording, Ernst is asked by an attendee whether she is on board with Sen. David Perdue\u2019s (R-Ga.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/news\/state--regional-govt--politics\/perdue-says-further-health-care-changes-absolutely-needed\/pKkgKuHrwrGMzvb58h0aTK\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">call for cuts to Medicare and Medicaid<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we all are because we understand that our non-discretionary spending is growing like this,\u201d replied Ernst, who is up for reelection in 2020. \u201cEveryone focuses on discretionary spending because that is what we can control in Congress. The rest is on autopilot and is out of control. We have to figure out ways to honor the commitments that have been made, but make changes for the future. How we do that, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Progressive advocacy group Social Security Works tweeted that \u201cchanges\u201d is \u201ccode for massive cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Joni Pig Nuts isn&#8217;t alone in this. When it comes to slashing YOUR Medicare and Medicaid, the entire Republican Reich want to cut off YOUR nuts and more!&nbsp; <strong>RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-2GmzyeeXnQ&amp;list=PLs5nLtKbGBVOZBCzgXxcN9fyCz6sQ1fab&amp;index=53&amp;t=0s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a> (a blast from the past): <font color=\"#000000\">the kinks- you really got me<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/-2GmzyeeXnQ\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Ah\u2026 The memories!&nbsp; <strong>RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/font><\/p>\n<h1 align=\"center\"><font color=\"#0000ff\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Vote Blue!!<\/font><\/h1>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s another tired day here in the CatBox.&nbsp; I slept well last night, but I\u2019m pretty run down from a sleep deficit.&nbsp; I need more.&nbsp; Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, so please expect no more than an Open Thread.&nbsp; Have a great weekend. Jig Zone Puzzle:Today\u2019s took me 3:30 (average 4:57).&nbsp; To do it, click <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/15\/open-thread-2-15-2020\/' 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":[3704,3712,3900,3853,3852,3802,3718,3743,3705,3706,3714],"class_list":["post-38997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","tag-cartoon","tag-donald-trump","tag-joni-ernst","tag-medicaid","tag-medicare","tag-michael-moore","tag-music","tag-republican-reich","tag-resist","tag-satire","tag-video","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\/38997","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=38997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}