Open Thread–2/4/2014

I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling quite tired, after what I suspect you already know was a horrid day for me.  There may be no Open Thread on Wednesday, because tomorrow I have a Podiatrist appointment.  It’s my routine quarterly visit to cut the recurring growth from my foot.  In addition, Politics Plus will be completely offline for up to an hour, sometime between 8 PM Tuesday Night and 4 AM Wednesday morning.  Our HSP is installing the Linux 3.4 kernel update on the server that runs our software.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:35).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: A “visibly troubled” man was spotted today outside MetLife Stadium just hours before the kickoff of Super Bowl XLVIII.

The man, his eyes darting about menacingly, alarmed passersby who were gathering at the Super Bowl venue.

Harland Dorrinson, who was participating in a pregame tailgating party, said he overheard the belligerent man making several “threatening remarks.”

LOL Andy! The question is this. Was it PIGnocchio, or was it the Met Life blimp? 😉

From Upworthy: Watch A Clever Senator Smack Down Deniers With His Extraordinary Commentary

It’s not uncommon for politicians to make "the jobs argument" against mitigating climate change. Their reasoning is that slowing our carbon emissions would be too costly for the economy. But what about the people whose jobs have already been affected by carbon? This senator does a darn good job of explaining the other jobs argument.

 

Sen. Whitehouse is spot-on. Note that the Republican on the committee failed in his attempt to sidetrack him. The problem is that you’ll never see this on most of the mainstream broadcast media.

From NY Times: Six months into peace talks dominated by discussion about security, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority has proposed to Secretary of State John Kerry that an American-led NATO force patrol a future Palestinian state indefinitely, with troops positioned throughout the territory, at all crossings, and within Jerusalem.

Mr. Abbas said in an interview with The New York Times at his headquarters here over the weekend that Israeli soldiers could remain in the West Bank for up to five years — not three, as he previously stated — and that Jewish settlements should be phased out of the new Palestinian state along a similar timetable. Palestine, he said, would not have its own army, only a police force, so the NATO mission would be responsible for preventing the weapons smuggling and terrorism that Israel fears.

“For a long time, and wherever they want, not only on the eastern borders, but also on the western borders, everywhere,” Mr. Abbas said of the imagined NATO mission. “The third party can stay. They can stay to reassure the Israelis, and to protect us.

This is the most reasonable proposal I have seen from either side, but I suspect Israel will reject it, because the NATO forces would also protect Palestinian territory against ongoing Israeli incursions in their attempt to enforce a one-state solution by attrition, through new settlements, in violation of the Helsinki Accords.

Cartoon: