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August 26, 2019 06:51 AM UTC

Monday Open Thread

  • 34 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.”

–Harry S Truman

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34 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

  1. The Denver Post's Justin Wingerter dismantles Cory Gardner's "Socialist"  smear campaign.

    As the GOP tries to keep the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Cory Gardner — the only statewide Republican officeholder in Colorado — they will make many references to socialism. It’s part of a national Republican playbook seen more commonly in the presidential race. But Gardner has already used it this year in the fight of his political life.

    “When you can’t run on your accomplishments — and Cory and the Trump administration have none — you resort to name-calling,” said Alice Madden, a former Colorado House minority leader running for Senate.

    Sen. Gardner has no choice but to follow (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell’s messaging advice and cry socialism, because all he has to stand on is a failed record of voting with President Trump 99 percent of the time to build his wall, take away health care, and blow a $1.5 trillion hole in the deficit to give corporations a tax break,” said former state Sen. Mike Johnston, the top fund-raiser in the Democratic field.

    1. His senate tombstone will read 'McConnell lapdog-turned-toothless-ankle-biter".  

      If anyone knows the benefits of (democratic) socialism it's Gardner (and his farm-implement-selling-family). The federally-subsidized rural electric association (the ultimate in socialist organizations) that built the infrastructure so we could move coal-fired electric power from Wyoming to Yuma County and transform our shared home county into an corn-cattle-pork producing powerhouse? The billions of taxpayer dollars flowing from the many-to-the-few farmers in ag subsidies over the past three decades? The free school bus the child of a farmer at Road 54 and PP rides every day? The same county road that everyone in the county pays for?  Subsidized multi-peril crop insurance products that every single taxpayer pays for, even if a small number of producers get the benefit? The rural telephone cooperative in Yuma County whose members all pay the same base rate regardless of whether their home is next to the switching station or the cooperative had to drag miles of underground fiber to your house?

      We've hit peak Flanderization.  

        1. “Solar technology did not come from the continuous improvement of candles”. While #GalaxyBrain and the Fossilonians cling to their dinosaur poop the adults in the room have a better plan. 

          I miss the Cowsills.

      1. Fortunately, that label should have little impact on impressionable voters (if there are any left).  Whoever wins the primary just needs to keep the focus on Cory "Nowhere Man" Gardner's lack of any accomplishments other than supporting (and of course endorsing) Trump 99% of the time, and his disappearing act when constituents or reporters try to talk to him.

        Hey Cory, explain to us again why you think so highly of — your words — the Buffoon who has wrecked the economy, tried to take away our health insurance, spurned our allies and coddles our enemies?

          1. That describes Trump when he attends meetings like G-7

            Day after day
            Alone on a hill
            The man with the foolish grin
            Is keeping perfectly still
            But nobody wants to know him
            They can see that he's just a fool

  2. Here's our newest Presidential candidate Joe Walsh explaining how 4-year-olds could be part of our well-regulated militia, after being pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen (video's at the end of this link, Walsh starts at 9:04):

    "The intensive, three-week Kinderguardian course introduces specially selected children from 12 to 4 years old to pistols, rifles, semiautomatics and a rudimentary knowledge of mortars. In less than a month — less than a month — a first-grader can become a first-grenade-er. Happy shooting, kids."

    2. Stupidity and gullibility aside, Joe's looking a little rough. Being on the business end of a Tammy Duckworth electoral beat-down does lasting damage, they say. Maybe he's also remorseful over being a deadbeat dad. lol j/k that's clearly not it.

  3. Denverites should not miss tonight's fireworks between Mayor Hancock and the City Council.  In an attempt to quell the insurrection over Council President Jolon Clark's proposal to place a business energy tax on next November's ballot, the mayor has called a 5:30pm news conference (I discovered this while setting my DVR to record tonight's City Council meeting on Channel 8 that normally starts at 5:30pm each Monday).

    I presume the mayor will threaten to veto the matter should the majority go ahead and approve it tonight.  It would take a 9-member majority to override.

    As with the surprise vote to cancel the contracts of for-profit contractors that have taken over the half-way houses and rehab programs (in addition to running inhumane private prisons throughout the nation), the council has grown impatient with Hancock's "Big Talk, Little Action" style of laissez faire management of the city.  See:  Homelessness,  Runaway development of high-end properties, Developers cheaply buying their way out of building affordable housing, etc.

    It's the wake up call he needs, and it will be interesting to see if the council says "Make my day" in the face of a veto.

     

      1. Duffy is an attorney, a former county prosecutor, then DA, then 8 year congress critter.  I suspect he'll land in a law firm, will have a solid chance to join a couple of corporate boards, and be a "contributor" to some media outlet.

  5. Democratic Party Platform:

    Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time. Fifteen of the 16 hottest years on record have occurred this century. While Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” 2016 is on track to break global temperature records once more. Cities from Miami to Baltimore are already threatened by rising seas. California and the West have suffered years of brutal drought. Alaska has been scorched by wildfire. New York has been battered by superstorms, and Texas swamped by flash floods. The best science tells us that without ambitious, immediate action across our economy to cut carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases, all of these impacts will be far worse in the future. We cannot leave our children a planet that has been profoundly damaged.

    Democratic Party:

    Democratic National Committee delegates in San Francisco voted against allowing candidates to participate in a primary debate focused on climate change, per the Mercury News, in a contentious 222-137 vote that comes amid ongoing devastation in the Amazon rainforest and growing evidence that scientists have underestimated the pace at which the world is warming.

    Top DNC officials shot down the idea of holding an official climate debate earlier this week. This vote was separate and decided whether the party would change its rules to allow the candidates to participate in an unsanctioned, third-party debate without risking consequences. Protesters interrupted the meeting, shouting “We can’t wait” and “Failure of leadership,” according to the Mercury News.

    1. I've been confused — what is the benefit of a climate change "debate" among Democratic Presidential candidates? Do any of the top 10 candidates fail to have a position?  Are any outlining opposition to any actions the Democratic House has passed?  Will distinctions on the issue matter to the overall decision about who can best oppose Trump?

      It has been awhile, but last spring when I looked, something like 3% of the population thought climate change was "the most important issue" facing the US, and 45% or so named it in a Pew Survey as "a substantial issue that should be addressed" — making it 17th of 18 issues.  Even among Democrats, only something like 65% thought it should be addressed.  

    2. Dimocrats need to stop talking about "climate change" and just talk about: clean air, water and land.

      Voters, of all stripes, will support clean air/water. And aiming for clean air gets you partway towards solving the climate problem.

        1. MADCO – would you be up to deconstructing this word salad?  This is giving every Fossilonian (maybe even the dead ones) a bigly case of penile tumescence. 

          How could we have missed this?  It's right under our feet, and GalaxyBrain is bringing it alive!!

           

          1.  I am sick of all the winning. But sounds about right.

            I am a little surprised he didn't add 
            Have I ever told you how great it is to be rich? I am so rich… so rich. It's great. Windmills?!  Sound of windmills causes cancer. Cancer! When did the sound of a coal mine or oil well ever cause cancer? I'm from Germany and I tell you there was no wind in Germany for many years. But now, well, we have the greatest economy , no recession.
            You know what would fix the Chinese hoax climate change… tax cuts. In my 3rd or 4th term we will fix climate change by cutting taxes.
             

            I miss Prince.

    3. A debate on the climate would be more beneficial than not, as it is an issue with a lot of salience.

      But, I guess I'm OK with DNC strategy of deferring to AOC who is laying down the aspirational markers with the Green New Deal. Each of the primary candidates are still free to present his or her plan to deal with the problem. 

      Come 2021, there are a lot of Executive branch regulations President Warren could change to reduce fossil fuel dependence and speed up the introduction of renewables. Maybe she'll appoint Gov. Inslee to be Commerce Secretary.

      Republicans might delay and obstruct, but only for a couple more years. While they are fiddling, Rome can be planning for the electric economy. The Blue States can shift their economy to efficient cars, leaving the Red States to buy all the big gas-hogs nobody else wants. Then it's our party: we'll pass a federal fuel tax of $2/gallon, and Red States can go cry if they want to.

      1. Although I don’t subscribe to the whole New Green Deal, I definitely like the $2.00 per gallon gas tax to encourage conservation and rebuild infrastructure. And for it’s effect on the baffling in the red states.

        1. As I said, I see AOC's New Green Deal as aspirational, a goal or ideal to which we can compare actual policies.

          This is a reasonable way to do politics: Set high aspirations or goals for politicians to agree with or disagree, and then practical "sausage making".

  6. The New York Times posted this breaking news:

    A new national poll suggests that the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination may be tightening, with a virtual three-way tie among former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and two more progressive rivals, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

    Despite the dead heat — Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren each with 20 percent support among Democratic voters, and Mr. Biden with 19 percent — the Monmouth University Poll released Monday may hint at a concerning trend for the candidacy of Mr. Biden, the poll’s previous front-runner, whose support declined from 32 percent when the Monmouth Poll was taken in June.

  7. Good news (apparently) out of the G7 conference:

    Days after ricocheting between threats and conciliation over China’s trade practices, the president appeared to settle on a path that leads toward negotiation rather than ever-spiraling tariffs. He told reporters that Chinese officials had reached out by telephone and that American officials would restart trade talks.

    At the same time, the president endorsed a diplomatic initiative with Iran, led by President Emmanuel Macron of France, which Mr. Trump said could culminate in a face-to-face meeting with President Hassan Rouhani within weeks — the first between an American and Iranian leader since the Tehran hostage crisis of 1979-81.

    Start your stop watches to see how long before Trump disavows any of the above (all it takes is one slip of the tongue that might hurt Trump's fee-fees)

     

      1. Well, that didn't take long, but I don't think that is even a record for Trump.

        It is pretty wild to think that we’re taking the word of China over that of the president of the United States. It would almost be unthinkable were it not for the fact that the president has literally told 12,019 “false claims and mistruths” between January 20, 2017, and August 5, 2019, clearly lied just this weekend about conversations with other foreign leaders, and has lied specifically about his trade deal with China in the past. Last December, he boasted to reporters that he’d struck an “incredible” trade deal with Chinese president Xi Jinping, a statement that completely blew up in his face less than 24 hours later. So you’d think he’d have learned his lesson here, but apparently not so much!

  8. G7 minus 1 leaders agree, Trump has clinched his place in history as the Village Idiot

    On President Trump’s trips abroad, it’s been pretty easy to read between the lines when other Western world leaders aren’t too pleased with him.

    But they’ve mostly tried to be diplomatic about it and, in public at least, humor him and his unusual ideas. Not this past week. It started with Trump seriously wanting to buy Greenland off Denmark and snowballed with the Group of Seven summit. There was no major diplomatic flap at the summit, but his peers on the world stage seemed to poke Trump on a lot of fronts as his trade war with China looms over a precarious global economy.

    Consider these recent quotes:

    “Absurd.” — That’s what Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said last week about Trumps efforts to buy Greenland.

    “Pointless.” — That’s how French President Emmanuel Macron described efforts to get Trump to sign a document with other leaders about being on the same page about the world’s most pressing problems. The Washington Post team in France reports it is the second time since 1975 this meeting didn’t end with that statement, called a “communique.” Macron also invited Iran’s foreign minister to Biarritz, France, where the summit was held, despite the fact Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal and he had to know Trump wouldn’t appreciate that move.

    “Just to register the faint, sheeplike note of our view on the trade war, we’re in favor of trade peace on the whole, and dialing it down if we can.”— That was Trump’s supposed buddy at the summit, new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in what was a subtle but notable criticism of Trump’s trade war with China. And Johnson said it to Trump’s face with the cameras on.

    The Japanese prime minister also walked back Trump’s assertion the two countries had reached a trade deal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked “bemused,” our reporters there say, as Trump said “There’s total unity” at the summit. “We got along great,” he insisted later.

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