Tuesday Open Thread

20 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. I just picked this up from The Washington Blade. Remember the Log Cabin Republicans? Yeah, the (should be) oxymoronic Gay Republicans? Well, it seems they're hemorrhaging members due to their endorsement of The Screaming Yam for a second term. Who'da thunk it?& nbsp;

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   1. Oops. Here's the link: https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/08/27/exclusive-log-cabin-executive-director-resigns-over-trump-endorsement

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      1. FYI – This link would be better

         https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/08/27/exclusive-log-cabin-executive-director-resigns-over-trump-endorsement/

         You can remove everything in the URL after (and including) the first ?-mark as it is just tracking data.

          

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         1. Thanks, Dave. that WAS messy, wasn't it? That's what I get when I try to read my email cook and post here all at the same time.

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            1. But the frosting you dripped on the post was yumalicious, cook!

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               1. That was marshmallow goo. I was making cereal treats for a guest this evening.

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2. Hahahaha…

   Inside Susan Collins’ reelection fight in the age of Trump

   Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who endorsed Collins in 2014, won’t say whether he will do so again. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) endorsed Collins, earning himself an angry call from Schumer.

   “I can’t believe everyone’s so damn hypocritical. She’s the one person I work with all the time,” Manchin said. “Why would you not expect me to do that?”

   “Yes,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), when asked if she’s conflicted. “I’m very fond of her. I consider her a friend. I trust her. I believe she’s a good senator.”

    

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   1. Old leftie Scott Nearing once savaged a Socialist who supported U.S. entry into World War I as "A pacifist between wars and a vegetarian between meals."

       That's Collins.  A moderate between votes and a vegetarian between meals.  The glorious RBG can't live forever and if Collins is in the Senate when the Justice departs, she'll vote to confirm whatever Federalist Society Fascism Forever twit Trump orders her to support.

      Throw the bum out.

      Sara Gideon, speaker of the Maine House of representatives, is running against Collins. Please join me in sending her some seed money through act blue or other source.
      It’s time we sent this vegetarian between meals back to Arby’s full time!

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3. John Hickenlooper Is the New Joe Lieberman: What Lieberman was to antiwar Democrats, Colorado’s Hickenlooper is to environmentalists

   If there is such a thing as an anti-climate Democrat, it’s John Hickenlooper, no matter what the DSCC says about voting for him to “act on climate.” West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin may have raised eyebrows by backing Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Accords, but Manchin never bragged about drinking a glass of Hallibutron fracking fluid, as Hickenlooper once did. Hickenlooper’s devotional act remains part of the reason he’s known by the nickname “Frackenlooper.”

   By deciding to publicly back Hickenlooper, who has a history of lavish support from energy companies, the Democratic Party is making a statement about what side of the corporate donation argument it backs. It seems determined to sink or swim with its Hickenloopers and Joe Manchins, continuing to push the unconvincing line that hackery is synonymous with electability.

   It took Joe Lieberman taking a primary L for the party to see the light about Iraq. Perhaps Colorado will be the scene for an epiphany on climate change.

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   1. More from new Matt Taibbi column at Rolling Stone:

      Hickenlooper just dropped out of the presidential campaign, after spending about $2.3 million to play human asterisk aside more progressive opponents. Debate moderators were glad he was there to call on when they wanted to accuse other candidates of being too radical. Apart from that, Hickenlooper’s presidential campaign highlight was probably comparing Medicare for All to Stalinism.

       

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   2. I'm not certain, but Hickenlooper could probably live with the Lieberman comparison.  When it came time for a 2006 general vote, Lieberman won by 10% — 50% to Lamont's 40%, and the hapless Republican getting 10%. 

      If the 11 "not-Hickenlooper" candidates want to win, I'm pretty certain it is going to take more than "he drank fracking fluid."  Finding a way to criticize outcomes of the "discussion" approach of Hick, such as the methane regulations, is going to be interesting.  The outcome, when "Colorado became the first state in the nation to limit methane emissions from oil and gas operations," got this sort of quote:

      "I think these rules are a model for the country," said Dan Grossman, the Rocky Mountain region director for the Environmental Defense Fund, which had pushed for the inclusion of methane in Colorado's new air quality rules.

       

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      1. The fact is the EPA was preparing to fine the bejeezus out of the City of Denver and I think the state as well. Anadarko and the other two front range bigs got together with Hick and created the phony narrative that it was some environmental epiphany and a favor to our lungs that was behind it. Not so.

         Claiming credit for making the methane rules happen is just another example of the fundamental mendacity of Gov. Frackenlooper. When it comes to climate change, count on Hick to do nothing.

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         1. Agree.
            Now what?

            How do we get a different electable nominee without wholesale destruction ?
            I'm not seeing the politics.

             

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            1. Maybe everyone take a deep breath, let the candidates 'do what they do' through Labor Day and into the next reporting period and see what happens then? A legitimate poll that shows head-to-head on the top half of the bracket v. Gardner? I have little doubt JH can defeat Cory; I'm equally as sure he isn't the only one. 

               It was reported on MSNBC that Mrs. Hick has maxed out to Dan Baer. I assume there will be realignment on some candidates over the next 30 days now that JH is a contestant.   

               I miss Mouth and MacNeal

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   3. Lieberman did make Harry Reid majority leader in 2007.

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4. Now THIS is some serious goose-stepping. An entire press release by American Farm Bureau's president Zippy Duval announcing the new increased limits for farmers seeking bankruptcy protection without the words "China", "trade war" or "tariff".  

   I've beaten you with my leather strap, now I'll sell you some sooting salve on credit to mask the pain since you have no money to buy the salve.

   Chapter 12 Debt Ceiling Increased to $10 Million

   On Friday President Donald Trump signed into law legislation raising the debt ceiling to $10 million for Chapter 12 bankruptcies. Authored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Family Farmer Relief Act expands farmer access to Chapter 12 debt reorganization procedures.  

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   1. Christ on a pogo stick, it just gets worse and worse.  Farmers need a fair price for our products, not bigger ceilings for bankruptcy!

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      1. Keep in mind, V, when the foundation of one's economic theory is laid by Arthur Laffer everything else in their upside-down world makes sense.  They wanted an astute business man who would run this country like he ran his businesses.  

         Be careful what you wish for. 

         PS: Senator Grassley looks like he's being held hostage while talking about the "Family Farm Relief Act".  Hey Chuck, if you need rescued blink twice.  

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         1. We watched a U.S. Farm Report last Sunday. During the breakdown on the crop report, the audience seemed like the were at a funeral. A bad crop year might even enhance prices if the farmers had a market.

            But they don't. The Orange Destruction is crushing family farms in both the short and long run. The beneficiary, of course, will be cash rich, giganto corporations who will buy the foreclosed farms for pennies on the dollar, thereby driving the last spike in the coffin of the family farm…like the kind I grew up on.

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            1. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
               Winner, Winner – chicken dinner!

               "…who will buy the foreclosed farms for pennies on the dollar …"

               It's valuable, we want it, we can't just invade anymore, so we will lend to you until you are choking on the debt and then we will save you
               Even if we required you to take on the debt, and then tanked your market, it's still your fault.
                

                

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