12 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

1. Net neutrality pushback: Senator Bennet (and 42 others, not including Cory Gardner) voted for Markey's resolution to restore net neutrality rules.

   Senator Michael Bennet

   “Nearly 25,000 Coloradans have contacted our office on net neutrality. The consensus could not be clearer: We must protect a free and open Internet.”

   The fate of 800,000 young DACA recipients is also on the line. The Dreamers have been occupying Senate offices, asking Senators to stand firm. From CREDO:

   You know what to do.

   Senator Bennet: Contact Us https://www.bennet.senate.gov/?p=contact
   Senator Gardner: Contact Cory* https://www.gardner.senate.gov/contact-cory/email-cory

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   1. The a Bold and Brave SFL Bennet stands up for net neutrality … and refinancing your student loans!

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2. STOP allowing Republicans to govern from crisis to crisis. They are in charge.

   THEY OWN THIS SHITSHOW. 

   If it’s too hard for your little political fee-fees to get out there and explain this all to voters AND FINALLY WIN THIS DEBATE, then you are incompetent. 

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3. Do not commit acts of bipartisanship with these motherfuckers: 

   Not satisfied with their own multi-pronged attack on the social fabric and safety net of the nation they claim to love, the Republicans have also let a foreign government attack the United States. Instead of repelling the invaders, strengthening our defenses and ferreting out the collaborators, the GOP has acted more like a fifth column shielding the saboteurs. In the fall of 2016, when confronted with the reports from 17 agencies in the intelligence community about Russian interference in the 2016 election, Mitch McConnell threatened Obama with partisan nuclear destruction and left the nation vulnerable to Vladimir Putin’s machinations.

   In March 2017, Devin Nunes sabotaged his own committee’s investigation into Russian interference, and for that unconscionable act, Paul Ryan rewarded him by threatening to allow contempt of Congress proceedings against the Department of Justice unless Nunes could review the FBI files on the case.

   In January 2018, Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham sent a letter to the DOJ demanding an investigation of former U.K. intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who was so alarmed by what he was uncovering that he alerted the FBI that the Russians had cultivated a Trojan Horse in the form of Donald Trump. “This was a national security issue,” Steele said. For having more concern about the United States than the Americans involved had shown, the Republicans tried to sic the FBI on him.  

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   1. The "17 agencies" bullshit again.  There were only 3 agencies that said anything about it, and it was only an "assessment", which in intelligence-speak means an educated guess.  I seriously doubt a foreign government would be so sloppy as to make it easy to find out that it was involved; that, and it having to have technology much more powerful than anything available in the United States to "hack" the DNC and move gigabytes of data overseas in a matter of seconds.

      The reality is a lot less thrilling and a lot more tawdry.  Trump and his family are grifters and money-launderers.  Clinton lost because she had no new ideas and didn't bother to campaign in places where she should have.

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4. Shutdown update:  The GOP is trying to use pretzel logic to shift the blame for their inability to govern onto the Democrats.

   Ryan used a press conference Thursday to blame Democrats for the sloppy situation on Capitol Hill.

   “They continue to hold military funding hostage over unrelated issues and deadlines that don’t exist,” he said, blasting Democrats for refusing to back a long-term spending deal until DACA is fixed. “Now they’re threatening to shut down the government altogether because of these unrelated issues. It is unconscionable.”

   Ironic choice of words from a man without a conscience.  What really pisses Ryan off is that this whole circus orchestrated by Trump, abetted by GOP right wing nut jobs in Congress, is that it's slowing down his plans to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 

   His and McConnell's pretending to care about CHIP is just the next in a long line of disgustingly hypocritical actions they will always devise to protect their donors and future employers at the long-term expense of everyone else.

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   1. We already spend more on our military than the next ten nations combined, many of whom are our allies — France, Italy,
      Germany, South Korea, Japan, Israel.

      So it is desperately important to increase military spending!

      Grand Fenwick will attack again if they sense any weakness.

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5. Looks like the fried chicken sisters will be trying to get all up in your uteri this session, again.

   HB18-1082 – A Woman's Right To "Accurate" "Health Care" "Information"

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   1. Awfully nice of them to let the woman pick her preferred poison, and listen to the legislator's non-medical opinion forcefully imposed upon a real doctor.

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      1. "full and accurate information for women" means allowing the religious right and their "crisis pregnancy centers" to have mandatory access to any woman seeking an abortion. I'm a guy and even I know that 99% of women have already figured things out when they go to seek an abortion; or make a decision to use contraception. 

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6. Thinking about the week's 1-step forward, 3-steps back and forth between Congress and Trump, I have two observations:

   1.  Congress, led by the GOP, has withered and decayed into a helpless bunch of cowardly street corner preachers.  All talk, no action unless someone else (the President, presumably) lassos them and drags them back into the stockyard.

   2.  Given Trump's total disinterest and knowledge of any details of any bit of legislation, getting him to lead (much less hold a consistent strategy or position) is a fool's errand.  Congress should simply decide what bills they want to pass (with, gasp, Democratic input and compromises), and then present them for Trump's signature, daring him to veto, which I suspect would not happen in virtually all cases. In fact, he’d probably claim the credit for being his idea.

   I probably shouldn't have clued the Republican leadership in on this secret…

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7. Pelosi: ‘We Must Fight Even Harder Against Trump's Authoritarian Impulses Now That We've Voted To Enable Them’ https://t.co/UhZg3nlOjB pic.twitter.com/sir9LC4oIx

   — The Onion (@TheOnion) January 18, 2018

   It Wasn’t Just Republicans — Democrats Also Voted to Shut Down Debate on Trump Administration’s Surveillance Powers

   And, today, the Senate voted 65-34 to reauthorize Section 702.  How many Senate Republicans are there again?

    

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