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July 21, 2018 12:13 AM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 51 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.”

–Bertrand Russell

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51 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

    1. The primary in Kansas is a couple of weeks away, on August 7.  Let's see which of the Democrats wins. 

      Thompson (the Sanders' backed candidate), who lost a special election last year, has a long list of organizational endorsements to go with Sanders &  Ocasio-Cortez. 

      Niermann has support in the district, including a Republican State senator who is campaigning for him.

      Davids is endorsed by Equality Kansas & other LGBTQ organizations, got money from EMILY'S list and according to ProPublica, is the only candidate who had outside money spent on her behalf.

      There are 3 others in the race as well.

  3. Just like the song goes:

    Ooooh that smell
    Can't you smell that smell

    2020 Republican convention goes to Charlotte, the lonely and reluctant bidder in age of Trump

    It was a close vote, and the city council almost rejected it. 

    During a contentious city council hearing earlier this week, member Matt Newton, an opponent, complained that Charlotte led the competition "not because we stepped forward, but because everyone else stepped back."

    The 6-5 vote — on a council where Democrats have a 9-2 majority — cleared the way for Friday's announcement by Republican leaders to formally award the bid.

    By the time Republican officials made their choice, however, the only remaining competition came from Nevada's Republican Party, whose bid came without support from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority or the city government. Other potential sites flamed out earlier, including San Antonio, which voted in May against bidding after public concerns that association with Trump would tarnish the predominantly Latino city's image.

    The RNC said five other cities expressed interest earlier in the year. But four of the five told the Charlotte Observer that they declined to submit bids, while officials in the fifth said they had no knowledge of any bid.

    So the Republican National Convention came within one vote of having to hold it inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste site devil

    1. Wow — I guess the economic recovery in cities must be taking hold if nearly all of them avoided a bid for the RNC.

      Imagine a series of cities turning down the opportunity to host the RNC, with 3 or 4 nights of prime time coverage, lots of media visiting and filing stories from there, and affluent lobbyists bringing their spending to town. 2016 Republican Convention had this estimate:

      It generated an economic impact of 1,348 jobs, $52.4 million in labor income, $84.8 million in value added, $142.2 million in output, and $16.9 million in taxes for the region. Sales tax in Cuyahoga County saw an increase of over a million dollars. Many businesses saw huge boosts in sales prior to and during the event week.

       

      1. Even though the Feds will kick in $50 million for security, that might not come close to the actual costs, given the toxicity of the Republican brand under Trump.

        Charlotte's own estimate is for about $100 million in economic impact.

        But, yes, the fact is that most large cities capable of hosting the RNC are Democratic strongholds, even in deep red states.  None felt the need for the aggravation, obviously.

  4. A Category 5 Trumpstink alert is in effect for Bedminster, N.J., Through Monday.  Stay upwind, America.  Except for you, Moddy. You can prostrate yourself toward New Jersey and inhale deeply.

    To each, his own.

  5. Hosting that convention, even two years from now, will not only tarnish Charlotte for welcoming The Yam & Co. It will bring back coverage of the Unite the Right event and all the bad press that generated for the city. And the protests during the convention will be HUGE, bringing Charlotte more bad press;kinda the opposite of what those events are supposed to do (Denver got a huge boost from 2008). I’m concerned that we could see a scenario to rival Chicago '68.

     

    1. I'm afraid you're right to worry about that, cook. Trump's true believers will be open-carrying and ready to rumble on the street – since they won't be allowed to carry inside the convention center.

      Trump and Pence, like Putin, are not stupid enough to expose themselves to  disgruntled or mentally unstable armed people. Most of those "carrying" will also not be delegates – being a delegate to the convention implies a seriousness and belief in the electoral process that the gun cultists lack.

      Also ready to rumble will be antifa and  anarchists, abetted by provocateurs and ego-trippers foreign and domestic,   and thousands of peaceful protesters will be trying to peacefully protest. In other words, Charlotte 2020 will be a powder keg, a  pot on the boil, a hot, humid mess -pick a metaphor.

      I also think it's possible, if not likely that we'll be talking about nominating Pence for President by the time summer of 2020 rolls in.

      Whoever is on the top of the ticket, Charlotte will rue the day that they bid on the 2020 GOP convention. 

      1.– corrected to “Charlottesville” per Phoenix – 😊
      2. – re- instated to “Charlotte” per Davie- 😊

      How many conversations will circle around just this one name topic between now and summer 2020?

        2. Ha! You have restored my faith in the fallibility of Phoenix. Also my determination to check every reference myself.

          Of note in the Charlotte, NC city council 6-5 decision to host the 2020 RNC:

          “I’d no sooner bring Donald Trump and the RNC to Charlotte — to the home that I choose and love, where my wife and I are raising our black son — any sooner than I would support a Klan rally in this city,” said Justin Harlow, a Democrat on the city council.

          Ouch.

          1. Well, Phoenix did catch my faux pas regarding the Michael Cohen investigation being State.  He correctly observed it is Federal.  I was recalling an earlier article regarding Trump's lack of pardon power in State prosecutions that related to Cohen.  I confused the NY AG and the USA for SDNY.

      2. Oops, my bad, PR. Even so, hosting RNC 2020 anywhere below the Mason-Dixon line will be a powder keg just waiting for a spark. The casual bigots will be spoiling for a fight. and the hard-leftists will be hard pressed not to oblige. I was a very little girl in '68, but I do have hazy memories of it due to growing up in a houseful of adults (10-year gap between my youngest brother and me).

  6. THANK YOU MIKE COFFMAN !!!

    Earlier this week, Rep. Coffman was one of 35 Republican congressionals voting against an amendment by Rep. Gosar of Arizona to de-fund Ironwood Forest National Monument in AZ. Vote on Gosar's amendment was 193-220. 

  7. Who in Colorado?

    The short MSM version:

    Are Republicans Covering for Trump, or for Themselves?
    If the N.R.A. was compromised by Russia, the whole party's in trouble.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/opinion/republican-party-national-rifle-association-trump-russia.html

    The longer (a bit more emphatic) version:

    The Helsinki Hostage Summit, Putin’s Puppet Trump, and my Working Theory of How the White House was Sold 
    http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2018/07/the-helsinki-hostage-summit-putins-puppet-trump-and-my-working-theory-of-how-the-white-house-was-sol.html

     

  8. Trump is getting worried — the Blowhard-in-Chief just cut a long, smelly one in Michael Cohen's direction.  He's shocked(!) that his fixer would record their conversations.

    President Trump lashed out at his longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Saturday, suggesting that there could be legal consequences for Mr. Cohen’s decision to record a discussion they had two months before the 2016 election about paying a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.

    “Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) — almost unheard of,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client — totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. 

    But of course, it is a toothless threat, and ironic since Trump is notorious for taping conversations all the time.

    Mr. Trump’s advisers have viewed the Cohen investigation as possibly a greater risk to the president than the special counsel inquiry into his campaign’s ties to Russia, given Mr. Cohen’s onetime status as the keeper of Mr. Trump’s personal and business secrets.

    While the president suggested that Mr. Cohen’s recording may have been illegal, New York law allows one party to a conversation to tape it without the other knowing. Over the years, Mr. Cohen, in his dealings on Mr. Trump’s behalf with journalists, opposing lawyers and business adversaries, frequently taped his conversations, unbeknown to the people with whom he was speaking. Mr. Trump himself also has a history of recording phone calls and conversations.

    Since this is a state investigation, Trump's pardon power is nil smiley

    1. “Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) — almost unheard of,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client — totally unheard of & perhaps illegal.

      "Mr. Trump, you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

       

    2. The Cohen investigation is Federal, run out of the US Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York.

      On the other hand, the New York State Attorney General is pursuing the Trump Foundation "charity" as a tax scam, and Trump and family were the board members…

  9. MJ – V'ger — DavidThi (if you're monitoring this site).  Here is an update on the ongoing struggle to sustain an authoritative news voice for Colorado (and perhaps nationwide as the business model evolves).

    In brief, J.B. Holston, entreprenuer, Dean at DU, and all around brilliant guy is leading the Colorado Media Project to solicit and incubate ideas on how to provide the public service (scrutiny of the state's institutions) traditionally served by print news in the face of the decline of traditional news.

    Bottomline: The Denver Post has a grim future, as does print media in general.  But a scalable solution is needed to sustainably (i.e. profitably) connect news producers with news consumers.  The process to explore, build and test various solutions with the help of industry experts and the public is happening now.

    1. Interesting and hopeful, Davie. I wonder if the "one stop news shop" in Colorado will end up  being a website with refined search criteria:

      *Allow people to search for curated (edited & fact checked) sites with professional journalists vs uncurated open-post sites* .

      *Allow a search for bias – people could self-select where they are on the political spectrum

      *Finally, a search for topic: keywords, issues, politics vs policy, etc.

      Is it your sense that there are two projects, one the big Colorado Sun project, and two, this amorphous "one stop news shop"?

      *(like this one – I think we're somewhat curated, though, at least in terms of what gets promoted). People tend to fact-check and edit each other.  We are unique among political news sites in allowing dissent and debate. Try that on Complete Colorado or Peak. )

       

      1. JB is completely open to new ideas, and expects it to take a few years for anyone one solution to evolve.  He actually started NewsGator some years ago. 

        You raise some good ideas — quality being the most important (trustworthy, readable, relevant).

        The Sun isn't part of this effort, but of course all the players are aware of each other and are extremely interested in what they are doing and how it turns out.  I suspect I'll be a subscriber if it meets my expectations.

        I like the traditional newspaper format because I like the serendipity of what is provided.  I don't have a set agenda on what topics I want to read about, so the fixed format of (electronic) print works for me, as I browse from front to back.  But search capability based on any desired criteria is almost a given, I would hope.

        And of course, you can also set up a profile to establish preferences (local, regional, world topics, sources, subjects, authors, etc) and screens to block specific authors or sources that you don't want to waste resources on.

        The other thing I get from a unified news source (whether it was Walter Cronkite, Time Magazine, or the daily newspaper) is a reassuringly consistent voice.  Today, when we get links to articles from various sources, we are overwhelmed with questions such as "Is this person credible?  What ax are they grinding?"  It is mentally and emotionally fatiguing to try to discern if an article is valuable or not, so yes, having a curated source of relevant news is what I hope to see out of this process.  But there is the danger of the "bubble" taking on an even stronger impact on creating silos and self-reinforcing bias.  I like my news plain and simple — not tinted yellow.

        Hopefully, as JB said, at least a half million Coloradans will someday agree.

        1. One way to pop out of the bias bubbles would be if the one news consortium site had a mutual agreement amongst all participating news & opinion outlets – like the Musketeers: "One for all and all for one!"

          Anyway, now when I subscribe to the Denver Post, I get the Washington Post free. Something like that would be good for people to do to support news outlets in Colorado. If I log on to the Colorado Media Project (having paid a reasonable subscription fee), I should be able to access all of the member news and opinion organizations, including their paywalled content.

          Once on, the home menu should direct people to News and Opinion sources. The consortium members should be honest about who they are. So Pols would say, "We're a left-leaning opinion politics blog which also sometimes breaks news stories and loves fart jokes." Colorado Peak would say, "We're a right-leaning opinion politics blog that never does any original research but gets our news from the Independence Institute talking points."

          etc.

          If we did this, subscribers should be able to break out of their comfortable bubbles just a bit….to see what the other 40% is saying.

          The young Latina school kids' youtube channel would be accessible the same way, as would other groups with unique viewpoints.

          Maybe some of the pros would feel insulted at being on an equal footing with the students or the Peakbots, but so what? Everyone would basically be supported by their own ad revenues and grant funds, plus a share of the total site subscriptions based on their own readership/ unique views.

          They'd have to agree to some minimum standards to be listed on the site – no fake news, no facebook memes, credit where due, respect copyrights, and ???

          I'm just brainstorming here, and I don't know JB from Adam, but I am a newspaperman's kid, have taught journalism and sponsored high school publications for years, plus I have my own little following as a blogger, so I think I have some minimal expertise.  Feel free to forward this idea to JB.

          mj

            1. Thanks, D – I'll write, as well. See my comment on Fort Morgan news below – rural areas need independent news writers, too. Otherwise, we get sweetened warmed-over pap…..guaranteed not to provoke thought nor to offend.

              1. Something I'm noticing of late: more news agencies are printing one another's stories and citing one another in their own pieces. Rivalries are good-natured and competition seems to have given way to camaraderie. Also, subscriptions (if only digital) are through the roof. Imagine that, the Screaming Yam may single-handedly slow the demise of journalism as a profession.

    2. Interesting — hope the project did a particular outreach to those already engaged in the Colorado "alternative news" and "established news" organizations. Holding on to what exists IF they meet the criteria of the project would be worthwhile. Finding ways to encourage collaboration or possibly even a joint business model for "news" is key. Providing a common subscription that allows wider coverage of news (rather than every source expending effort to cover the same event) seems to me a way to leverage limited resources. Providing a way to access that news and then to sample diverse opinions from various advocates would be a compelling reason for me to subscribe.

      1. Yes — Kyle Clark of 9News said something similar in one of the meetings held at the Denver Press Club a while back.  Don't waste resources having everyone covering the same few stories.  With TV, social media, blogs, newsletters, newspapers, etc. we are faced with an overwhelming flood of information, some news, most entertainment, too much propaganda, and the rest commercials.

        As MJ said, we need a one stop news shop with professional quality content that (I think) could be rated for bias and accuracy based on multiple criteria (e.g. work history of the authors/editors producing the content, quality/quantity of sources used, etc.)

      1. Excellent!  Did you catch this article in the Colorado Independent?

        The Colorado Sun is crowdsourcing its ethics policy

        As Denver’s newest digital news outlet starts to crank up, the new crypto-currency-backed crew is developing an ethics policy — and asking for reader input.

        From The Sun’s John Ingold in a recently published item:

        We’re thinking of this ethics policy as a guiding light for all our journalism and business practices. When it’s finished, we’ll post it online as a promise to our readers. If we ever stray from it, you should call us on it. A lot of it will probably seem pretty obvious. Our news reporters won’t take sides in partisan battles. We’ll always report based on verifiable facts. But there are also more complicated questions, and that’s where your input comes in. For instance, should we ever take anonymous donations? How much should we disclose about our supporters? And how should we address things that give the appearance of a conflict of interest? In short, how do you want a modern news organization to behave, while also ensuring that it can be sustainable?

        Ingold asked for anyone with ideas to send them to him at johningold@coloradosun.com.

    1. Ripping babies from their parents arms isn't civility..

      Wearing swastikas and running down pedestrians isn't civility…

      Lying about everything and insulting everyone isn't civility…

      Taking from the poor and giving to the rich isn't civility..

      Promoting racism, xenophobia, mysogeny, and homophobia isn't civility…

      Fuck civility…call the greedy bastards out for who and what they are…be uncivil…It is your duty…HDT would be proud of you.

       

  11. What the heck is going on around Fort Morgan ?

    Former Julesberg Sheriff Tom Hanna, who was recalled after he was charged with five counts of sexual assault on an inmate, was just sentenced to

    …a  seven month work release incarceration, with 31 days credit for time served.

    Singer also ordered Hanna to serve 12 months probation, fined him $500, ordered him to perform 50 hours of useful public service and to write a "Letter of Apology" to the community of Sedgwick County to be published in the Julesburg Advocate within 21 days.

    Hanna can keep company with deputy Sedgewick County sheriff Ingwersen, also jailed for being drunk and disorderly.

    The Fort Morgan Times headline on this piece: Sloppy decision earns former sheriff seven months jail sentence.

    "Sloppy decision." That's one way to look at it. Another way is, "The guy's a rapist, and is getting off lightly.

    Then there is the tale of Fort Morgan City Manager Jeffery Wells, who assaulted his daughter and other children over a period of years. Wells continues to draw his $144,000 city salary while he is on administrative leave. The last Fort Morgan City Manager killed himself after his child-porn habits were revealed.

    Fort Morgan has both a a mayor and a city manager. The police department is under the authority of the city manager currently, although there is a proposal to change that.  I say that anyone in charge of the police should be elected – and subject to recall.

    Then there is the case of the tweaker trucker who stole a semi and went on a rampage throughout Morgan County three months ago, injuring several people and totalling several cars, including two police cruisers.

    Oh, yes, and we just had one of the largest seizures of heroin in Colorado history – three kilos of heroin found in a car in the Fort Morgan Walmart parking lot.

    Yeah, just sleepy little northeast Colorado towns…..at least, on the surface.

    – This is why we need independent news coverage – the Fort Morgan Tribune is an Alden paper. I think that there are dots to be connected between these stories – demand for opiods because of the intensive injury-prone meat-packing industry, rampant corruption in small-town politics, lack of accountability for police, hidden domestic and sexual violence – but nobody is connecting those dots.

    1. Poorly managed law enforcement in other parts of the state, too. Long time Fremont County Sheriff who's finally not running again, doesn't seem able to avoid hiring and retaining crooks. This was happening just after this guy was convicted.

  12. Memo to Democrats: You can’t win a street fight with a snappy slogan: 

    Wririter Rob Goodman argued that, after Republicans have killed all the old political norms — denying a Supreme Court nominee a hearing, for example — it’s silly for Democrats to go on playing by the rules. Why obey the law in a lawless world?

    “Norms are only norms when they are mutual,” wrote Goodman, “fairness is only fair when it’s shared. Democrats aren’t justified in breaking norms because they’ve been ‘wronged.’ They are justified because the current system has ceased to function.”

    It’s possible to feel simultaneously uneasy at the brute force politics Goodman envisions — like packing the Supreme Court, for starters — and yet compelled by his larger point: Democrats must realize that they’re in a back-alley brawl, not a pillow fight. 

    That they don’t get this yet can be inferred from the new slogan House Democrats unveiled last week: “For The People.” While that’s an improvement over last year’s, “A Better Deal,” with its musty scent of leftover Roosevelt, it still doesn’t suggest a party ready to rumble.

    In that, the party is disconnected from its people, who are viscerally furious. Democratic leaders don’t seem to know what to do with that anger. Indeed, they seem to fear it.

    1. Sappy, you are very good at telling us what you believe doesn't work but you have yet to offer something concrete and useful.  (Well, you are very good at two things:  telling us what doesn't work – bipartisanship – and telling us what you think of M. Bennet.)

      Your mantra on the Kavanaugh nomination is "Fight like hell!" Nice sound bite but what specifically should be done? If Schumer gets all 49 Democrats to vote as a block against, that's nice. The nomination is then confirmed, 50 to 49.

      Do you have even  single suggestion other than "Fight like hell"?

  13. Land and Water Conservation Fund: good article in the editorials of today's Post supporting the Fund, by Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner. They are co-sponsoring a bill to make LWCF funding permanent at the original $900 million level. The money comes from offshore oil & gas royalties.

  14. Sanders' wing of the party terrifies moderate Dems. Here's how they plan to stop it.

    Party members and fundraisers gathered for an invitation-only event to figure out how to counteract the rising progressive movement.

    That anxiety has largely been kept to a whisper among the party's moderates and big donors, with some of the major fundraisers pressing operatives on what can be done to stop the Vermonter if he runs for the White House again.

    But the first-ever "Opportunity 2020" convention, organized here last week by Third Way, a moderate Democratic think tank, gave middle-of-the-road party members a safe space to come together and voice their concerns.

    "You're not going to make me hate somebody just because they're rich. I want to be rich!" Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a potential presidential candidate, said Friday to laughs.

    1. Now why would anybody want to stop a candidate who will be 79 by the 2020 election — if he's still alive.  Average life expectancy for a u.s. Male is 76.

    2. So, lemme see if I have this right.

      When Sanders, Warren & miscellaneous left wing folks gather at Netroots or the DSA meeting, they are bold, confident and looking out for the good of the Democratic party with proposals for Medicare for All — an obvious winner because of some polling — and Abolish ICE.

      When Ryan (the good one), Landrieu, Third Way & miscellaneous center (or the Democratic right wing) folks (including some donors) gather, they are terrified of the left wing and have no winning issues or strategies. And when they want details — how does it work? how does it get paid for? who will do the work? — they obviously are falling behind and are probably colluding with the Republicans.

      Do I have the current media descriptions down?

       

        1. Both of you suck at mind-reading. If you want to know what I think, you know I'm not shy about telling you. But fricking ask me, don't assume. Same goes for Zap and dustpuppy, who may or may not agree with me on a given issue.

          I haven't even bothered to read up on the Third Way folks and what, if any, their proposals actually are. Sanders, at least, has plenty of how-to-pay-for-it detail on the Medicare for All legislation– and he's far from the only one to propose it. 122 cosponsors at last count.

          2. MJ — I know that I suck at mind reading.

            But come on, my item here doesn't mention you at all. Heck, it doesn't even mention Pseudonymous, and he's the one who posted.

            Just checking.  If I quoted and said:

            All that is gold does not glitter,

            Not all those who wander are lost;

            The old that is strong does not wither,

            Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

            would you think it applies to you, as well?

          3. Plenty of detailing how to pay, Mama? The bill lists types of taxes but no indication of amounts. I understand some flexibility must be there, but would, for example, the payroll tax stay the same, go down or go up. And by how much?

             

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