17 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. 

   Secret donors and Trump allies: Inside the operation to push noncitizen voting laws in Florida and other states

   A network of out-of-state political consultants, secret donors and activists with close ties to President Trump is behind an effort to change the Florida constitution to explicitly state that only citizens may vote in elections, a measure that would amplify the issue of immigration in the 2020 battleground state.

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   1. So does "only a citizen" include "every citizen", or just some citizens? The current wording is a statement of rights; the new wording, of restrictions.

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      1. Considering the source, my guess is that it’s very inclusive — all native born free white male property owners without restriction or discrimination??

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         1. and 5/8ths of all others.

             

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2. Everything's fine.  Move along…

   WAKE UP, WILBUR – “Because he tends to fall asleep in meetings, they try not to put him in a position where that could happen so they’re very careful and conscious about how they schedule certain meetings. There’s a small window where he’s able to focus and pay attention and not fall asleep.”

   ‘It’s a disaster over there’: Commerce reaches new heights of dysfunction

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   1. Are we back in the Reagan administration? I remember when the staff tried so hard to conceal how fragile the old man was, and that was before anyone knew his cookies were sliding off the platter. Are Wilbur's where they belong?

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3. Trump tweets budget deal has been struck

   As noted, the debt ceiling would be suspended for two years — the official date would be July 31, 2021, according to two people involved in the talks. This would be a very big deal as it would take the issue off everyone's plate until after the election and would give the new Congress plenty of time to deal with it in 2021.

   That's quite a gift to give (what you hope is) a Democratic president in their first year in office…

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   1. The Democratic President inaugurated in January 2021 will have SO much cleaning up to do – a cratering economy, environmental and humanitarian disasters, a total loss of faith in the federal government, and on and on. The debt ceiling will be a minor issue on the long list of things to do.

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      1. Sure.  Just look at 2011.

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         1. Yup, if a Dem wins, it'll be Deficits are going to destroy us!  Cut taxes for billionaires and give them bailouts, and pay for it with austerity for all the heathens (or those that make less than $350k per year). Oh, and don’t forget to give the Pentagon budget another $100 billion boost!

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4. What happened to the weekend open thread? Alva?

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   1. https://www.coloradopols.com/diary/124734/weekend-open-thread-302

       

      I give up.
      What happened?

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5. Why Sanders and Biden both suck:

   Biden and Sanders, Behaving Badly  (A bad-faith debate over health care coverage.)

   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/opinion/biden-sanders-health-care.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

   . . . or how Joe and Bernie brought their particular take on that disgusting, and too familiar, “Bob and Curmy” routine, to the healthcare debate.

   But right now, two of the major contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, are having an ugly argument about health care that could hurt the party’s chances. There are real, important differences between the two men’s policy proposals, and it’s fine to point that out. What’s not fine is the name-calling and false assertions. Both men are behaving badly. And for their party’s sake, and their country’s, they need to stop it.

   ——

   So there’s plenty of room for a good-faith Sanders-Biden argument. Unfortunately, that’s not the argument they’re having.

   Instead, Sanders is arguing that only single-payer can purge “corporate greed” from the system — an assertion belied by European experience — and broadly hinting that Biden is in the pocket of corporate interests. That’s a criticism you can level about some of Biden’s past policy positions, like his advocacy of the 2005 bankruptcy law. But it’s not a fair criticism of a health plan that’s actually pretty good, and which most people would have considered radical just a few years ago.

   For his part, Biden is declaring that the Sanders plan would undermine Medicare. In fact, it would enhance current recipients’ benefits. And it’s a bad sign that Biden, who poses as Obamacare’s great defender, is using a G.O.P. scare tactic familiar from the utterly dishonest campaign against the A.C.A. No Democrat should be stooping to that level.

   . . . Dog spare us all from the fragile bruised egos of posturing privileged septuagenarian white males . . .  

   The sooner folks toss off both these bellicose way-past-their-“best-by-date” old fools (i.e., Bernie and Joe, that is . . . maaaaybe?), the better.

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6. 10th Circuit reverses TABOR ruling, says lawsuit can challenge Colorado law’s constitutionality

   A sidelined legal challenge to the constitutionality of Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights is back on again, following a decision by a federal appeals court Monday that found some plaintiffs in the case have a right to sue.

   “We have been dealing for eight years with threshold procedural issues,” said David Skaggs, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “Now I hope we will be heading back to district court to finally get to the merits.”

   The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision reverses a 2017 ruling by a federal judge in Denver who said the plaintiffs lacked what’s called standing — meaning they could show they would be subject to actual or threatened damages — and therefore couldn’t sue.

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   1. Knock on wood… but if the plaintiffs do get to court and TABOR is found unconstitutional, expect great weeping, wailing, teeth gnashing, etc from the righties. Recall fever be damned – TABOR is the hill they’ll die on, no matter how many potholes and underfunded schools they have to pass to get there.

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      1. And there won't be a thing ol' Doug Bruce can do about it. Ain't that grand?

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   2. Lack of standing is the strawman which will empower courts to advance the right wing agenda.

      If only someone had told us.

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