{"id":9783,"date":"2012-12-26T04:56:11","date_gmt":"2012-12-26T12:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=9783"},"modified":"2012-12-26T04:56:11","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T12:56:11","slug":"open-thread12262012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/26\/open-thread12262012\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–12\/26\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, Christmas Dinner went well, but I was so pooped afterwards, that I slept for eleven hours.  The down-side is that, today, the mess awaits.  Christmas is such a slow news day, that I had to struggle to find material for the short takes.  I\u2019m current with replies.  We\u2019ll see how I feel tomorrow.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s took me 4:43 (average 5:16).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>President Obama is planning to cut his Christmas vacation short and return to Washington to make a last-ditch push for a compromise on a tax and spending dispute that remains stubbornly unresolved.<\/p>\n

The White House said Tuesday that the president would leave Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

I applaud the President for demonstrating his resolve. It is shameful that Congress apparently has no such intent.<\/font><\/p>\n

From The Hill<\/a>: <\/font>The Washington Metropolitan Police Department is investigating \u201cMeet the Press\u201d host David Gregory for a potential violation of the District of Columbia\u2019s gun laws, a spokesman for the department confirmed to The Hill.<\/p>\n

While interviewing National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre on Sunday, Gregory held up what appeared to be a 30-round magazine to ask if it should be banned. The cartridge is illegal in Washington, D.C., where \u201cMeet the Press\u201d is filmed.<\/p>\n

How absurd! While he did violate the letter of the law, his action could not have been more supportive of the intent and spirit of the law.<\/font><\/p>\n

From RobertReich.org<\/a>: <\/font>The path of least resistance is for Obama and the Democrats to offer to keep everything as is, through 2013 \u2013 extend all the Bush tax cuts and continue all current spending (lifting the debt limit along the way) \u2013 unless or until a \u201cgrand bargain\u201d on the budget is agreed to before the end of the next year.<\/p>\n

This is likely to satisfy enough Republican fanatics to gain a majority in the House. And it would avoid the fiscal cliff, kicking the can down the road and giving everyone more time.<\/p>\n

Deficit hawks in both parties won\u2019t like it, but that\u2019s okay. Unemployment is still way too high and growth too meager to justify trimming the deficit any time soon.<\/p>\n

The real problem with this gambit is it doesn\u2019t change the game. Even down the road, Boehner\u2019s hands will still be tied and the fanatics will remain in charge \u2014 which will give Republicans the stronger position in negotiations leading to a \u201cgrand bargain.\u201d Compromise would have to be almost entirely on the Democrats\u2019 side.  <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019d recommend going over the cliff and forcing the Republicans\u2019 hand. It\u2019s a risky strategy but it would at least expose the Republican tactic and put public pressure squarely on rank-and-file Republicans, where it belongs.<\/p>\n

I’m sure he does not know it, but Robert Reich is restating what I have been arguing for months. It’s great to be in good company.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\"26Cartoon\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, Christmas Dinner went well, but I was so pooped afterwards, that I slept for eleven hours.  The down-side is that, today, the mess awaits.  Christmas is such a slow news day, that I had to struggle to find material for the short takes.  I\u2019m current with replies.  We\u2019ll see how I feel tomorrow. Jig […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9783","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\/9783","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=9783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}