CO-04 (Special Election) See Full Big Line

(R) Greg Lopez

(R) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) Deborah Flora

(R) J. Sonnenberg

30%↑

15%↑

10%↓

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

50%↓

50%↑

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

35%↓

30%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
November 23, 2017 07:44 AM UTC

Thanksgiving Weekend Open Thread

  • 38 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Tweet
Share

Comments

38 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Weekend Open Thread”

  1. John Andrews is perfectly happy with being a "conservative" first and a "Christian" second, but considering the fact that he's a leader in the Religious-Right in Colorado it shouldn't be surprising.

    THE PODIUM: Why I’m still on the Trump train

    The Religious-Right in Colorado love to believe that it is impossible for a liberal to be a true patriotic, Christian American. They would rather sell their souls than associate with a Democrat and I'm pretty sure most of them have done so already by supporting Trump.

    1. “Better a Constitution-ignoring sexual predator than a Democratic.  Pass the tax cuts, please . . .”

      excerpted from Everything I Ever Needed to Learn from John Andrews was Nothing

    2. Gettin' Levitican! Nothing says "Judeo-Christian moral values" like a 32-yo District Attorney scooping up teens at the courthouse!  Sure, he's a pervy, hypocritical, lying, moralistic twice defrocked disgraced "judge" but at least he's not a Democrat! Like Republican-Jesus said on the Mount: "Blessed are the Republican pussy-grabbers and molesters for they shall enable our rich brethren to fund more of our political shenanigans." 

      1. From my Pentecostal Holiness days as a six year old (scary shit for a 6 yr. old) through my Baptist and " Church of Christ" teenage years, I have seen fundamentalism in southern religion become a national movement. It is based on fear, hatred, and arrogance…it is an isolationist view and its greatest tool is hypocrisy. It has never been otherwise.

        Philandering preachers and priests…and judges, are not news…and not just in the south. Anyone who claims to be a christian and continues to look the other way on this is not a christian…they are a Christian. And as such, will surely follow the worldly leader, not the one they claim to worship…even if that leader is, by their own calculations, damned. Mind bogglin', ain't it?

         

        1. I’ve long believed that many of the answers are hiding in plain sight, up near the Continental Divide in my imaginary hometown of the heart, Backbone Colorado USA.

          I dunno.  My hometown of the heart is where every parent who works full time doesn't live in poverty, no child goes hungry, has access to health care and a quality public education.   Color me silly, but an ideology rooted in the Laffer Curve and your manufactured #ProsperityJesus isn't a foundation built for any of those outcomes. 

          Perhaps we could encourage the real welfare queens to pull themselves up by the bootstraps? The Google gives you plenty leads on where you could start: here.  here.  here.  

          The only thing hiding in plain sight in Backbone? George and Ben.  

           

              1. laughThank you, Michael. That means a lot to me.  Glad your Thanksgiving was entertaining, what with the stereo dueling Republican relatives…. Happy hemp hyping to you!

                 

    1. Fine….let's talk about  a safe topic – food. What's on the menu? What are you personally cooking or trying out today? Any radical departures from Thanksgiving normalcy?

      I'm cooking balsamic roasted brussels sprouts and Mexican pumpkin soup. I once spent two hours at the dining room table refusing to eat brussels sprouts, but now I know how to prepare them, they're delicious.

      I'll be celebrating at my sister and brother in law's massive table in Boulder,  feasting on all kinds of natural, GMO-free, organic products from Natural Grocers. Half the people at the table will be waifs and strays with no family in town to celebrate the holiday with. This does not even include about 6 dogs underfoot. All of the feast will be recycled, per Boulder's zero waste program.

      2. My contributions to this year’s dinner will be two of my favorite dishes — roasted parsnips with garlic, rosemary, and sea salt, and a sweet potato souffle. I’m also in the hook for the Riesling. Everything else is on others, so I’m enjoying a quiet and stressless morning.

        Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

        May this coming holiday season and the new year be as joyful for you and yours as the past year was for the Kremlin.

  4. Thanksgiving is eased by a commitment to remain low-key and go with a friend to an Indian restaurant for "feasting." Tonight's entree for me — shrimp korma.

    However you all choose to celebrate — know that I've been appreciating your varying takes on Colorado politics.

  5. Running America like he runs his businesses.  

    Remember way back a month ago?  It’s good to be prince [princess]. . . 

    http://www.propublica.org/article/ivanka-donald-trump-jr-close-to-being-charged-felony-fraud

    . . . unless . . . 

    Trump SoHo to Shed 'Trump' Amid Reports of Sagging Business

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/11/22/us/ap-us-trump-hotel-losing-trump-name.html

     

    Trump Organization in Buyout Deal on Struggling NYC Tower: Report

    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/11/22/business/22reuters-trump-property.html

     

    . . . you’re such a “loser” that even with your criminal fraud and your daddy’s inherited name and business acumen (?) you still can’t scam a buck???

  8. Like the spoof advertising for Powdermilk Biscuits on Prairie Home Companion: 14-year olds,  "so you know they're not only good for you, but pure… mostly."

  10. We're less than 5% of the world population, yet represent 25% of the global prison population.  If you are invested in our nation's private prison complex, the TwoScoops™ plan is rewarding you handsomely.

    #MAGA 

     

    Jeff Sessions is slowly but surely undoing America's criminal justice progress

    The time Sessions wants to go back to features an unforgiving system of mass incarceration that disproportionately targets people of color in a legal structure too often stacked against them.

    To do this, the attorney general has issued a slew of policy rollbacks— unfortunate for a Justice Department that was only incrementally making progress toward equal justice under President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.

    In this sense, Sessions’ Justice Department might be the most effective unit of the Trump administration. If Trumpism’s goal is, at least in, part to destroy the progress achieved under the Obama administration, Sessions’ scorecard so far outstrips his GOP colleagues in the Cabinet and former colleagues in the Senate.

  11. Nov 25, 1986

    The Iran-Contra tragedy is revealed to include the Reagan administration’s illegal funding of the Nicaraguan terrorists, the Contras, trying to overthrow the elected government of Nicaragua.

     

    Christmas eve, 1992 the Bush administration pardoned six of the criminals.

  13. Nancy Pelosi Won’t Say If John Conyers Should Resign
    She also would not affirm whether she believes the women who have accused the veteran Democratic congressman of sexual harassment.

    While she added that “women are entitled to due process as well,” Pelosi would not say whether she believes the allegations of the women.

    “I do not know who they are. Do you? They have not really come forward,” Pelosi said.

    Conyers reportedly settled one of the cases in 2015, part of a byzantine process for dealing with sexual misconduct cases in Congress, which lawmakers have said lacks transparency and favors the perpetrator over the victim. 

    Except they did, didn't they?  Here are their affidavits.  Here's one woman claiming she was only verbally abused and harassed, not sexually, even though Conyers summoned her to his office, where he greeted her in his underwear.

    Also, does that means she does believe Al Franken's accusers, who have come forward?  Is opening yourself up to public attack, derision, and intrusion the standard we're holding victims to?

  14. EWWW worthy:  Moore took the side of accused offenders 10 times as Alabama's top justice. He attempted to challenge the "rape shield " law which prevented the accused from bringing up victim's supposed sexual histories.

    In our Colorado legislature, we also have people who protect sex offenders: Dave Williams had 3 sex offenders in his family or professional associations. As Progressive Cowgirl wrote in 2013:

    First, Dave is employed by his father-in-law, Doyle McAlister, a sex offender who pleaded guilty to sexual crimes against a minor [1]. Second, his adviser and attack dog, Andy Colon, is also a sex offender who pleaded guilty to crimes against a minor [2]. Third, Williams spoke out to defend the “rights” of a third sex offender, including apparently the right to speak on a public school campus without notifying organizers of his past sex crimes against children [3].

    This is the same HD15 legislator who has been calling for Speaker Crisanta Duran to resign for "covering up" allegations of sexual misconduct.

    Randy Baumgartner, accused of sexual harassment of an intern, also had sheltered a sex offender who failed to register as such.

    So weird, though…no Republican has called for the term-limited Baumgartner's resignation. Instead, #COGOP is floundering, trying to come up with a coherent response.

    Please, people – agree on a process, one that is transparent and gives equal weight to the words of accused and accusers.  A process that is consistent for every legislator regardless of party affiliation or "who they know, " or how necessary their votes might be in upcoming legislation.

    Principles ranking some offenses as worse than others should also be put into writing: For example, in category 1, all nonprofessional behavior at work is reprimand-worthy, but serious “Take some unpaid time off and think about what you’ve done and don’t come back without a plan for people being safe around you and then stick to it” should be the rule for the following (category 2) allegations until/if they are disproven:

    *not taking “no” for an answer when asking for a date
    *being in a position of trust and taking advantage of a child or someone you supervise or have power over
    *violence
    *intentional groping
    *anything criminal under existing law
    *and most of the shit Roy Moore is accused of.

    I think Franken’s pre- elected behavior belongs in category 1, not category 2. Baumgartner’s and Tate’s alleged behaviors were at work, but probably in category 1. Lebsock’s behaviors were in both categories, and at work. There may be more we don’t know yet. Oh joy.

    Legislators, if y'all can't come up with some consistent policies along these lines, then invest in a bunch of pairs of clowny red rubber gloves that accused "grabby handed" folks must wear as an act of public shame, contrition, and warning for the unwary. That ought to do it.

      1. I support an investigation  of Franken's offenses – but his resignation only if it is proven that he is a serial offender who is likely to continue to offend. He doesn't seem to be an addicted personality like Anthony Wiener, or a predator like Moore.

        All of the above should happen right after Moore withdraws his candidacy, and all of the allegations against Trump are also fully investigated and he is either sentenced, or resigns.

        I get that Dems have to present this as a nonpartisan issue, that they are just as tough on our own people, and that their true interest is protecting victims. Republicans mouth the same platitudes. Nobody believes it. Republicans would be delighted to see Democrats sabotage ourselves in the name of purity, and then claim a need for due process when it comes to cleaning out their own closets.

        And the continual sideshow about who did what when distracts from the #taxualassault and the attack on net neutrality.

        1. Since I’m not a Democrat, I don’t have to worry about politics or presentation.  I can just keep on worrying about these victims and their “sideshow.”

            1. Let's see…aside from talking about it here, I

              • Work hard to continually improve my personal understanding of my own behavior to avoid contributing to the problem– particularly by asking women about their experiences and listening while they talk to me.
              • Counseled two female coworkers when they came to me with reports of harassment, including supporting them through the process of reporting and investigation.
              • Personally intervened on behalf of a partner who was being touched by her boss when her workplace refused to, and she wasn't in a position to be able to leave her job.
              • Donate to these folks.
              • Confront coworkers directly and immediately when they cross the line.
              • Believe victims.

              And, yes, I'm the guy that reads my workplace harassment guidelines and the complaint process and suggests changes.  In one case, that meant changing a policy that made it sound like victims had to go through their "chain of command" to report (I asked for, and got, an "open door," report to anyone, policy).

              Of course, none of that matters.  It's easy for me to declaim harassers, because I'm a tough, straight, middle-aged white guy and have and will never be harassed.  I identify with these victims because I hate bullies, and particularly with victims of sexual harassment and assault because of my mother's extensive experience with rape.  She was regularly raped during her teen years by men and women her mother brought over for the purpose.

              I don't care about the politics of this issue.  I care about the women, and sometimes men, who can't go through a normal day at work, or, apparently, take a photo, without someone violating their bodies or their psyches.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

221 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!