Tuesday Open Thread

21 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. We all know what's coming, so get out the Febreze.

   Trump stinks! 

   Great God Almighty, 

   Trump stinks!

   Stay upwind, America.

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2. Did I mention that Trump stinks?

   He peels the paint off the outhouse with his stink.

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3. Looks like Scrooge McDuck forgot to declare his money bath vault…

   Walker Stapleton left blind trust out of his public financial disclosure

   n question is Rocky Mountain Trust LLC, which incorporated after Stapleton, a political newcomer at the time, won office as state treasurer in 2010. Stapleton has said Rocky Mountain Trust is a “blind trust” – a tool some elected officials and others use to avoid potential conflicts of interest in their investments. The arrangements vary. In some blind trusts, the person who owns the assets is totally blind to what investments the trust holds. In others, they know what assets are, but are not involved with managing or making decisions about them.

   As of May 25th, that trust also has been listed as delinquent since late February with the Secretary of State’s Office. Fortney said that likely means someone neglected to reregister it, an oversight he said someone with the trust would handle. 

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   1. And just the other day, I was reading we should have someone like Dubya the businessperson in office, as he knew how to make a business run.

      Don't know about you, but overlooking registration of a trust doesn't seem like competent oversight to me. And "forgetting" sizable amounts of assets on a financial disclosure almost makes it sound like he's auditioning to join the Trump Sad!-ministration's inner circle.

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4. Planned Parenthood Hires Union Buster to "Avoid" Employee Union

   

   Over the weekend I posted a link to an article by The Intercept about how Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood was fighting unionization of its workers by Local 105 of the SEIU.

   PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS ASKING DONALD TRUMP’S LABOR BOARD FOR HELP BUSTING ITS COLORADO UNION

   Since then I have done a little research – over at the NLRB website. And, what did I find? Planned Parenthood is represented by Fisher & Phillips, LLP, the oldest and largest employer labor law firms in the country. The firm touts its expertise and record at "union avoidance." For those of you unfamiliar with labor euphemisms, this means union busting.

   The services of such a nationwide union buster do not come cheap. Planned Parenthood is using the donations that you and I gave them to provide healthcare to women to try and bust the union. 

   Not one more dime until Planned Parenthood recognizes the union, negotiates with Local 105 in good faith, and reaches a contract with its employees.

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   1. I know you are well versed in labor law, James.  Are you helping SEIU on this?

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5. I remember years ago helping the newspaper Guild try to organize a local paper famed for it's liberal stance.  They hit us with a counter-attack led by attorney Dave Gorsuch, father of the current SCOTUS justice.

   I discovered that it was not easy negotiating with liberals.  They are only generous with other people's money.

   The real victims here are women in need of health services.

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6. Better yet, buy less, consume less, reuse more, and avoid unneccessary packaging and bags whenever possible . . .

   Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not

   https://nyti.ms/2LFn4kT?smid=nytcore-ios-share

   . . . be sure to also check that “6 things you’re recycling wrong” link.  (Hint: Starbucks, probably ain’t much better for the planet, in terms of recyclability, than McDonalds.)

    

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   1. Starbucks offers $10 million for ideas on a better cup

      In 2008, Starbucks set several aggressive goals to reduce its environmental impact. In 2010 it pledged to ensure that 100% of its cups would be reusable or recyclable by 2015 — which did not happen.

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7. ABC cancels 'Roseanne' after star's racist Twitter rant

   Barr is notorious for tweeting about pro-Trump conspiracy theories and other controversial topics. This week she repeatedly attacked prominent Democrats. 

   In one of the tweets, she wrote, "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." 

   Barr was responding to a comment about Valerie Jarrett, a top former aide to President Obama. She replied to CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski and said it was "a joke."

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   1. I'm guessing Nutter would pay $100 more than once to watch this and NOT be offended? Just as long as a black guy doesn’t take a knee?

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   2. Roseanne Barr has really lost her way. She has gone from being a sharp and iconoclastic social commentator to just being offensive for its own sake. I have sophomore students funnier than she is now.

      And she was really funny when she was hanging out in Denver suburbs doing gigs at the old Comedy Store, or in her early years.

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      1. Good riddance……….

         The proverbial turd in the punch bowl.

         Such a nasty woman!

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8. Thoughtful commentary from Thomas L. Friedman of the NYTimes that almost could have been written by Bluecat:

   …what we’ve learned since 2016 is that the worst Democrat on the ballot for the House or Senate is preferable to the best Republican, because the best Republicans have consistently refused to take a moral stand against Trump’s undermining of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Civil Service, the basic norms of our public life and the integrity of our elections.

   These Republicans have made the craven choice to stand with Trump as long as he delivers the policies they like on taxes cut, gun control, fossil fuels, abortion and immigration, even though many privately detest him.

   It is up to the Democrats to say and do the opposite: To understand that as long as Trump is president, he’s unlikely to sign any legislation a Democratic majority in Congress would pass — but that’s not their job for the next two years. Their job is to protect America from Trump’s worst impulses.

   In the end, I don’t want to see Trump impeached, unless there is overwhelming evidence. I want to see, and I want the world to see, a majority of Americans vote to curtail his power for the next two years — not to push a specific agenda over his but because they want to protect America, its ideals and institutions, from him — until our next presidential election gives us a chance to end this cancer and to birth a new G.O.P. that promotes the best instincts of conservatives, not the worst, so Americans can again have two decent choices.

   Again, this is Code Red: American democracy is truly threatened today — by the man sitting in the Oval Office and the lawmakers giving him a free pass.

    

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   1. As I've said before, much as I despise The Screaming Yam, impeaching him would not improve the situation. Pence is frighteningly competent at governing but his idea of The Way Things Ought to Be (to steal a phrase from Rushbo) is terrifying. The Handmaid's Tale could become more than a novel under his influence. And it doesn't get any better down the line of succession. They're all either evil or incompetent.

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      1. 44 Republican congressmen quitting.  Fingers crossed, we win the House and stop Trump in his pig sty muddy tracks.

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         1. But unless we take the Senate, Trump will go on transforming the federal judiciary into a Fascist National Redoubt.   I already sent money to a fund for 10 Democrats running in close races.

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            1. 

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9. FFS.  This #ProsperityGospel thingy is getting waaay out of hand… 

   If Jesus were to descend from heaven and physically set foot on 21st-century Earth, prosperity gospel televangelist Jesse Duplantis told his followers, the Redeemer would probably take a pass on riding on the back of a donkey: “He’d be on an airplane preaching the gospel all over the world.”

   He preaches the prosperity gospel, which says God shows favor by rewarding the faithful with earthly riches. Giving money to pastors and their ministries, leaders say, is a sort of investment.

   And prosperity gospel preachers have encouraged their flocks to invest heavily in aviation.

   In 2015, televangelist Creflo Dollar was widely mocked for starting “Project G650,” a means of getting a state-of-the-art Gulfstream G650 plane of his own, financed by his 200,000 followers. According to The Post’s Abby Ohlheiser, Dollar said he “needs one of the most luxurious private jets made today in order to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

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   1. His family name should tell you all you need to know. Money is green because those grifters pick it before it's ripe.

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10. You can't make this shit up. Even though Sony tried, and got hacked for it.

    Tinpot dictator Kim Jong Un is in love with American pop culture. He wants to open a freaking hamburger franchise in Pyongyang as a "gesture of goodwill".

    Most North Koreans are hungry and can't afford a Wendy's double stack.  Glorious Leader may still be trying to nuke Hawaii, and/ or his neighbors, but he's going to by gawd enjoy a nice juicy American burger.  And Trump will probably help make that happen and profit from it. It would make great TV.

    My desk is getting indented from all the head pounding.

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