14 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. WOTD from Tim Miller at Rolling Stone: “And the Hell Ship Sails on.“

   Great article about Republican political consultants regarding their deal with the devil and how they justify it.

   But rather than addressing this by creating some strategic separation from Trump to solidify the historically conservative Dallas and Houston suburbs where Trump is bleeding out, Cornyn has become a Mr. Trump fan girl, echoing his virus denial and defending the attack on nonviolent protestors in Lafayette Square.

   Why? According to one: “You have 25% of the state is rural and Trump gets like Saddam Hussein level numbers here. 87% in 25% of the state… Cornyn gets 69. And so Cornyn can’t find a place to break from because he could really put that in jeopardy.”

   And thus the polarizing nature of Trump makes it impossible for Cornyn to make a move that helps him in the swingy suburbs without risking the floor falling out from under him in West Texas.

   This same calculus pervades no matter the race, no matter the district, no matter the geography: The operatives insist that the pro-Trump zealotry the president’s supporters demand makes it far more difficult for candidates to win over anyone else.

   …

   And so they remain passengers on a hell ship with no control over where it takes them. Emotionally tied to a man who shares their enemies, convinced that his ills are outweighed by theirs. Politically chained to a president who has the key to voters they need. Unable and unwilling to attempt to do much of anything about it. And resigned to that fate.

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   1. Thanks for the link. Will have to check out the article – seems to have a lot of clarity re: where Republican candidates are now.

      But I'd like to know where we really are in the Trump fable – have we gotten to the part yet where he shoots someone on 5th Avenue? It's so difficult to tell when his failed policies (and the Trump-Aid elected Republicans around the country continue to drink) have already resulted in the unnecessary deaths of literally tens of thousands of Americans. We have immigrants in cages, we have peaceful protestors gassed by Bill Barr, we have billions of dollars of COVID loans flowing to the Trump family and his friends. But do we have the "shooting on 5th Avenue?" 

      Trump is the master of distraction and the shooting on 5th Avenue meme was just another one of those. While the audience waits for the shooting on 5th Avenue in the Trump drama, he has been looting the country, damaging our environmental laws beyond recognition, harming immigrants, and threatening the survival of our democratic republic. 

      We've hoped the deus ex machina in this bad Greek tragedy would be impeachment and conviction. It wasn't. Now we hope it will be the November election. We could be wrong about that, too.

       

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   2. He ain't the only one boarding the Good Ship Lollipop Heil 

      This is some kamikaze shit. https://t.co/y4wkEkGcnV

      — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 8, 2020

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      1. they could put a confederate flag on every jersey

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      2. Loeffler was the one who bilked investors with an insider trading scheme.

         The Senate Ethics Committee said “Nothing to see here,” but apparently Georgia voters haven’t forgiven, nor have they forgotten. She’s fourth in polls, behind her Republican and Democratic opponents, for her appointed Senate seat.  

         Now she’s blatantly selling access through a tiered donor scheme. But if that doesn’t work, looks like she’s falling back on racism.

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2. Suburban voters got behind Trump’s message in 2016. Now they are walking away.

   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/07/suburban-voters-got-behind-trumps-message-2016-now-they-are-walking-away/

   The latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows the president receiving about a third of the suburban vote — a significant decline from the nearly 50 percent of support he received in 2016. With several months left before the election, that number could drop more, and perhaps is likely to if Trump continues to address these issues in the same way. And all indicators suggest that he will. 

    

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3. Trump’s attacks on mail voting are turning Republicans off absentee ballots

   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-attacks-on-mail-voting-are-turning-republicans-off-absentee-ballots/2020/07/07/640b6126-bbd4-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html

   President Trump’s relentless attacks on the security of mail voting are driving suspicion among GOP voters toward absentee ballots — a dynamic alarming Republican strategists, who say it could undercut their own candidates, including Trump himself.

   In several primaries this spring, Democratic voters have embraced mail ballots in far larger numbers than Republicans during a campaign season defined by the coronavirus pandemic. And when they urge their supporters to vote by mail, GOP campaigns around the country are hearing from more and more Republican voters who say they do not trust absentee ballots, according to multiple strategists. In one particularly vivid example, a group of Michigan voters held a public burning of their absentee ballot applications last month.

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4. enhanced rock weathering

   Spreading rock dust on farmland could pull enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to remove about half of the amount of that greenhouse gas currently produced by Europe

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5. Duke – you'd enjoy following the YEARS Project (video below).  While Ttump is frantically trying to keep us distracted, the Fed is buying up troubled assets in the O&G industry at alarming rates.  Meanwhile, in TX  an undisciplined industry is flaring nearly a billion dollars (what should be) precious resources with no accountability.  Not a shocking discovery given we lit the Bakken reserves to the extent they showed up on satellite images – and right here at home, the industry is demonstrably suppressing corn and wheat yields by an estimated 10%.  

   The Federal Reserve is buying up troubled assets from the fossil fuel industry. That’s unprecedented and risky, explains @SBloomRaskin. #NoFossilFuelBailout #YEARSproject pic.twitter.com/VDOFHgsfbH

   — The YEARS Project (@YEARSofLIVING) July 7, 2020

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   1. Warren Buffet is buying O&G infrastructure…is that so he can sell it back to the Fed?

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      1. Forgot the linky to Texas: (they're operating like a bunch of trust fund babies who have burned through their assets and now looking for daddy to bail them out)

         IEEFA report: Texas oil producers burned through $749.9 million flaring gas in 2018

         June 11, 2020 (IEEFA U.S.) — Texas oil producers burned a record $749.9 million by flaring or venting unneeded natural gas into the air, according to a report released today by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

         

         The Texas Railroad Commission, the chief industry regulator in the state, passed up the opportunity to curb flaring last month when it rejected a proposal to cut oil production by 20 percent. The 2-1 vote against taking action occurred even as oil and gas prices plunged because of oversupply conditions exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and a price war with Saudi Arabia and Russia.

          

         Drill Burn Baby Drill Burn !! 

           

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         1. Like a bad acid flashback. . .

            https://youtu.be/BPV6kpNnr3c

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            1. #MDGA 

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            2. oh…ick.

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