14 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. Today’s headline in Politico……..

   “Is There a Barry Goldwater Left in the GOP?

   How one senator had the power to tell the president it was all over.”

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   1. Sadly, no.

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2. Denver Infill has a neat little thing showing satellite before and after views of various areas of downtown Denver. 2010-2019

   https://denverinfill.com/blog/2020/01/a-decade-of-infill-before-and-after.html

   Denverite has a look at other laws beyond the camping ban used by the city to move people experiencing homelessness.

   https://denverite.com/2020/01/21/its-not-just-the-camping-ban-that-keeps-you-on-the-move-if-youre-experiencing-homelessness/

   And Colorado Public Radio has an article about State Sen. Brittany Pettersen becoming the first legislator to give birth during a session.

   https://www.cpr.org/2020/01/21/for-the-first-time-a-state-lawmaker-has-given-birth-during-the-legislative-session/

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3. Love your quote today Pols.  So much more thoughtful then the old days when it was Rush's latest diatribe.  The quote itself presupposes the existence of an individual conscience which in Gardner's case is debatable.

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4. A million here, a million there — eventually, maybe it'll add up to corruption.

   D.C. attorney general sues Trump inaugural committee over $1 million ballroom booking at president's hotel

   Attorney General Karl A. Racine alleges in a civil lawsuit that the inaugural committee abused its nonprofit status by spending $175,000 a day to rent the ballroom of the president’s D.C. hotel — over the objections of its own event planner. The cost totaled more than $1 million, including food and beverages, far more than other hotels charged. Subpoenaed documents show committee officials were alerted to the problem but ignored warnings.

    

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5. It's pretty clear what strategy Trump's minions must employ:

   • Quinta Jurecic and Ben Wittes, in The Atlantic:

   Were Trump trying to make a traditional legal argument, he’d have picked the wrong legal counsel. But that’s not what the president is trying to do. …

   And so the president’s defense, the argument and the team alike, has another purpose: It’s a message to Republican senators. It says to each of them that no, the White House will not make a factual argument on the merits of the case—not a real one, anyway. And no, it will not make a real legal argument either. It, rather, will announce that, per George Orwell, two plus two equals five. And it will demand of the senators that they get in line to endorse that proposition, preferably on television, where the president can see. It will be a failure of loyalty if they are not willing to do this. And they will be subject to retaliation. It’s not a strategy that would work in court. But the Senate is not, at the end of the day, a court.

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   1. This is a great point.

      The second half of it is: "By agreeing, you are signaling your loyalty, and are now fully-compromised."

      This is the way kompromat and mafia corruption works. If you are participating in the violence, you can't turn on the Don without destroying yourself. 

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6. Warren has a plan for that: “Cleanup the mess Trump has created“

   Do any of the other Dem candidates actually have a plan to fix all the things Trump broke? He has had 4 years of wrecking ball governance: killing science, the EPA, immigration, workers rights, etc.

   Biden is going to get Republicans to help him, Sanders is going to be an inspiration, Buttigieg is going to speak 15 languages, Klobuchar – I’m don’t actually know.

   It isn’t even about all of Warren’s policy plans which will require new and better laws to be passed in Congress. It is about her knowledge of how the bureaucracy works, and her interest in restoring a functioning government.

   I can easily visualize Warren as a competent executive, picking great people for her cabinet, inspiring the government staff up and down the ranks, restoring science, regulation and policy. Imagine an office dedicated to protecting consumers from the ravages of monopoly capitalism; let’s call it the Consumer Financial Protection Board. 

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   1. Sadly, she's about $2 trillion a year short of paying for all her free stuff.

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      1. Didn't you hear? She is going to ask rich people to pay for her free stuff. And they are going to agree to do it. Honest to God!

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7. 

   The CNN poll breaks down race by “white” and “non-white”:

   White
   Sanders 24%
   Biden 22%
   Buttigieg 18%
   Warren 13%
   Bloomberg 6%
   Klobuchar 6%

   Non-white
   Sanders 30%
   Biden 27%
   Warren 16%
   Yang 6%
   Bloomberg 5%
   Buttigieg 4%https://t.co/grLDov0XO4

   — Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) January 22, 2020

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   1. CNN poll: Bernie Sanders surges to join Biden atop Democratic presidential pack

      What?!

      Got to be fake.. whatshername just said no one likes that guy. Unless voters like that "no one" likes that guy

      https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/22/politics/cnn-poll-sanders-biden-january-national/index.html

       

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      1. Well, everyone brings some baggage to the race. Biden and Sanders both apparently think that being a woman is a drag on a candidacy. (They're right, because there are some voters who are still sexist pigs, but bringing it up as a point in favor of a male candidate is not cool IMHO.)  Biden brings the baggage of some questionable policy history. Sanders is loud and not always diplomatic.

         Apparently, white older male candidates are "safe" this year.

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      2. Well, one in four Democrats loves bernie. The rest of us are trying to find a reasonable alternative.  When he first faces African American voters, Bernie will fold.

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