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September 04, 2020 10:33 PM UTC

Labor Day Weekend Open Thread

  • 70 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Comments

70 thoughts on “Labor Day Weekend Open Thread

  1. And now we know: FOP endorses Trump for president.

    The largest police union supports Trump. Reminds me of the old song: "Which side are you on? Which side are you on."

  2. A little note about the size of the active duty and military veteran populations. If you are a Baby Boomer you most likely know a veteran, either in your family or a close friend. And, you most likely do not know anyone on active duty. If you are 21 you most likely do not know a veteran or anyone on active duty. There are only about three to four percent of the U.S. population who are veterans, down from the upper forty percent after WWII. And, most of those are Vietnam Era veterans. Only one percent of the population are on active duty.

    When all the retailers tout a discount to active duty and veterans they are not risking much.

    When we hear about active duty and veterans voting, we are not talking about a massive number of votes, but we are talking about reliable voters.

    1. Thanks, Pam, for that perspective. Your analysis is correct from my perspective; I’m a Boomer, and know two Vietnam vets. 
       

      I think that there is a correlation between living in a rural area and having a younger, i.e. Gulf or Afghan/Iraq veteran in the family. At least, I noticed that more students were enlisting when I lived and taught in small and medium towns over the last decade.  Can you speak to that? 

      1. There is a tendency for people, men and women,  from small town and rural to enlist.  But they are most noticed because of the population density is lower making their departure known. 

        If you live in Aurora or the Springs you would have more chances to know veterans because of the high numbers of veterans and retirees living there.  And, there are active military bases or forts nearby with commissary and BX for shopping.  Active duty tend to stay on base or in certain rental areas, but that does mean meeting them in public. 

        I live in Annapolis and work in the D.C. area which has many military locations so it is easy to find and know veterans and active duty personnel. I shop at the Naval Academy commissary and BX, old habits die hard even after fifty years, I still have my arm move to salute officers.   Unless you live next to a military base, the generalizations I posted do apply.

        1. Ag Secretary Vilsack made continual mention of the disproportionality of rural kids in the military demographic. I’ll look it up and post later but using the federal definition of rural we are around 14% of the population but close to 40% of the armed services population.  For the reason the Obama Administration pushed (and got) veterans classified as ‘disadvantaged’ (along with women and minorities) so they’d have a leg up in accessing USDA programs.  

            1. A high proportion of rural kids do go into service. T'was ever thus. Small farm, big family. They can't all inherit the land and make a go of Dad's farm. One child gets it and the rest have to make their own way. Military service is a way out, on the government's dime. And even better. You'll learn skills for a career after your hitch. That's why my father and both of his brothers enlisted during the Korean era. All five of their sisters married servicemen.

    2. On paper – boomer.
      I’ve always resisted because my parents were born during the War and the end of the war had nothing to do with them making babies.

      But – vet and everyone in my immediate and extended family knows vets that are not blood relatives. And most of us know multiple people on active duty.

      I dispute your numbers, not because I am an outlier.
      https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/10/the-changing-face-of-americas-veteran-population/

      But your point is a good one.
      There is a great presentation that makes the case we are privatizing the military – to the benefit of guys like Erik Prince (who is a vet). There’s a graph showing where all the money goes – and it aint to the vets.

      Vets vote.

      They lean R. And they profile rural – also a typical R demographic.

      But Truman integrated the Army, Eisenhower warned us about private contracting and Obama kept Guantanamo, expanded surveillance and the drone assassinations. Point is that party doesn’t always determine politics. 

      But no matter- Trump is an elitist, mean, low information douche weasel.  Nothing new and no one is surprised.
      Does him saying the quiet part out loud (again)  make it any easier for Biden?
      Does it mean AZ, NC,  and any other senate race goes D?  It’s all distraction –

      CHB is right again – people need to say out loud that a vote for Trump or any of his senate cabal is a vote to cut Social Security, privatize Medicare, eliminate Medicaid and cut taxes for the top again.
      Well – stick to Social Security cuts. A lot of people think they want the rest.

       

       

       

      1. One quibble — Obama didn't keep Guantanamo … he proposed closing it and the Congress would not allow the money to do it, the opportunity to transfer prisoners to the United States or to other countries.  The UK's Independent summarized it this way:

        it was primarily opposition on Capitol Hill that has stymied progress. Congress objected from the outset to plans to put five men accused in connection with the 9/11 attacks on trial in Manhattan and to build special super-max penitentiaries on US soil for detainees deemed too dangerous to transfer to other countries but who can’t be tried for lack of evidence or because evidence has been tainted by the interrogation or torture. Under Republican control for most of Mr Obama’s two terms, it passed laws preventing the allocation of funds to build such facilities.

        It was by no means a purely partisan choice.  The first two years of Obama's administration, there were Democratic House and Senate majorities.  Whether from a lack of administrative skill and negotiating tactic failure or from an overwhelming NIMBY reaction that swamped partisanship (Rep. King and Sen. Schumer from NY cooperated in opposing some elements of the closure plan), the Obama intent did not reach any sort of political consensus or even acquiescence.

        1. So next year, hypothetically, if President Biden tries to close Gitmo and Congress refuses to fund it, he can take the $$$ away from construction of the wall and use it to shut Gitmo?

          There is precedent for moving money around.

      2. I’m on the other end of that, MADCO. Born in ’65 to parents who were 14 & 16 when WWII ended, but my brothers were born in the first half of the 50s, at the height of the Boom. I never fit in with kids whose parents were on the leading edge of it.

    3. The veterans and military are an important block of voters the same way that farmers are important. Even though people who are actually farmers or farmworkers make up 1.3% of the workforce. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/ag-and-food-sectors-and-the-economy.aspx

      The thing is that both the image and the other industries related to farming are more important. The reason so few people can be farmworkers is because of the labor saving equipment made by industrial workers. There are all the jobs that need food and the fact that all of us have farming touch our lives every single day. And most of us have this idea of farming being noble or good because of our culture.

      With the military the connection is not as direct, but the military is all around our lives. All the jobs in the weapon companies or that come around military bases. The cultural associations that are all through our entertainment from movies to video games.

      We are taught to revere the military and even for someone like me who never joined there is a respect. So the judgements about what is respectful or not of our military is very important because of how this makes the rest of the voters feel about a politician.

  3. Tune of “Sound Off”

    -0-

    You had a good home but you left.

    I

    You’re right.

    Trump was president when you left.

    You’re right.

    Now you live in this quonset dump

    And the draft-dodger-in-chief sneers that you’re just a chump.

    Sound off.

    Dump Trump.

    Sound off.

    Past tense Pence.

    Election count.

    Vote Trump out

    in 57 days!

    Ain’t no use in lookin’ back

    Trump done stole your Cadillac.

    Ain’t no use in goin’ home

    Trump has got your girl and gone.

    When I get a three-day pass

    I’ll kick Trump out on his yellow ass.

    Am I right or wrong?

    You’re right!

    Are we goin’ strong?

    You’re right!

    He started packing the courts when you left

    You’re right.

    With new judges from the right

    Far right.

    And unless we set judge Ginsberg free

    She’ll be practising law at one hundred and three.

    Sound off, one two

    Sound off, three four

    Cadence count, one two

    Dump Trump!

    1. Ayup. I've always harbored a suspicion that the Dumpster doesn't really care all that much about military support. He's got the major police organizations, and he and his underlings have done a fine job cultivating a Sturmabteilung of doughy incels, neo-Confederate shitlords and other assorted deplorables.

  4. Another month, another flurry of Hickenlooper fundraising letters.  WOE! Hick lead is single digits.  

    That single digit appears to be a 9. Is the next senate report due the 15th?

  5. I'm hearing some tepid support for Biden which is eerily reminiscent of the tepid support that Hillary had in 2016. 

    I am using this message to gin up enthusiasm:  Biden will be like a second Obama Administration.  He will appoint many of the former Obama officials who were super competent and squeaky clean.  This will be true in all areas — Justice, FDA and CDC, Education, State, you name it.  And, if we can flip the Senate, Biden will be able to accomplish much of what Obama was unable to do because of GOP obstruction.   In other words, if you liked Barack Obama, you'll also like Joe Biden.  In fact, Trump is making that same case by calling Biden "O'Biden".  Joe Biden may not be Barack Obama (who is?), but Joe Biden will govern like Barack Obama.

    1. "tepid support for Biden….." One way to ratchet up that support is to spread the word that Trump has been talking about cutting, or even eliminating, the payroll tax that funds social security and Medicare.

      Alerting people to the possibility of big cuts in their social security ought to stir things up.

      1. There are thousands of reasons to Dump Trump, but they still don't generate excitement for Biden, particularly among the left wing of the Democratic Party.  My advice is to compare Biden to Obama ("O'Biden", if you will).

      1. Good weather..no wind.

        No current …it's a reservoir.

        Only one explanation, then. Too many fat boaters in overloaded boats, all moving to one side to get a better look. Once the floundering starts, the comedy ensues.

          1. I lived in Liberty County for a couple of years and spent quite a bit of time in the Dallas area. Obesity amongst the masses is the rule…not the exception.

        1. The other explanation … too many boats of different sizes, all trying to go in the same direction, without any overall control.  Video I saw of one boat getting swamped was pretty clear — boats pushing out large wakes and some converging to form even more challenging water pattern swamped one of the smaller craft (~20 foot, 6 on board, none wearing life jackets).

          1. Life jackets are like masks, seat belts, and helmets. The Deep State’s long reach.
            The tree of liberty sometimes must be watered with runoff from the waterlogged corpses of freedom fighters.

      1. I prefer boats that don’t sink. 
         

        I’m starting to feel sorry for the Onion. Their business model can’t endure four more years of these morans. 

  6. If you look at the photos from Kickshot's link you can see how much all those boats speeding around churned the water up. I can easily believe they managed to create swells high enough to flip some of them over.

     

    1. There are places at Lake Powell that are particularly susceptible to that "bathtub effect". The chop just keeps getting bigger as multiple boats move around. It can get to be unmanagable.

  7. Funny story — Trump campaign donations are being spent not just for campaign ads, but a significant amount to his legal defense fund.  But, of course, it's going to the law firm that has been Trump's Go-To law firm.  

    President Trump was proudly litigious before his victory in 2016 and has remained so in the White House. But one big factor has changed: He has drawn on campaign donations as a piggy bank for his legal expenses to a degree far greater than any of his predecessors.

    At least a dozen former Jones Day lawyers who received government jobs during the Trump administration are still working in the federal government, according to a search of White House records, public databases and LinkedIn.

    1. That's because there are so many needed to try to defend the indefensible. 

      Besides, spending campaign cash on lawyers is better than spending it on the Charlotte RNC only to see it replaced by the Jacksonville RNC only to see that replaced by the Rose Garden RNC.

  8. Way back when,  I saw the Primitives in concert. (Cambridge, 1989. Great show- lots of young, fun,drunk Brits and post-punk pop.) They played a song off the new album, Pure, called Sick of It.

    I am voting for Joe Biden and between now and then I will be as enthusiastic as I can.

    February, 2016 I predicted Trump would be the nominee (it's in the CoPols archive ). After that I did what I could to convince my Bernie and progressive friends to Vote Blue no matter who. I also remarked repeatedly that Team D was making a mistake to mock and disdain anyone who didn't love the D nominee.  (Just like they did in 2008 Jan through the PUMA convention in June)

    In 2016  always felt more than a twinge of revenge is sweet, as in sure, elect Obama, but we'll get you my pretty.  In the gneral I was not an enthused, raucus OMG! fan – but she won my state.

    I have been an enthusiastic Vote Blue supporter since Nov 4 2016.

    Of course the left is not enthused about Biden. There are several reasons, not in rank order:
    – he's as insidery a corporate Dem as can be (how exactly did the family make millions off the son's expertise in Ukrainian oil and gas deals?)
    – opposed public option when it counted
    – never showed any inclination to fix Medicare or Social Security
    – a track record of being a little touchy with the girls
    – he's really old

    I could go on – but I gotta vote for the guy in a few weeks.

    Thinking now of all the declared, likely or rumored candidates from a year ago today here are some I  would have preferred over Joe in no particular order.
    – Harris
    – Yang
    – Buttigieg
    – Sanders
    – Warren
    – Inslee
    – Bennet
    – Castro

    Here's some I would have put in the same level of enthusiasm as Joe
    – Hickinlooper
    – Bullock
    – Sestack
    – DeBlasio
    – Gillenbrand
    – Klobuchar
    – Williamson

    The unenthused D voters I read and talk to think this:
    President Biden does not have to be the best choice for our country. He is far, far better than the other guy.

    Vote Me, the Opponent is worse! has won national campaigns, but the winning voters were always tepid. 
    I will take tepid. Tepid is an improvement over 2016. If the '16 disappointed progressives didn't share so much mutual hate with the D nominee and her supporters perhaps they could have ginned up more tepidity and it could have gone differently. (someone should make the movie of alternate history. Or an SNL sketch)

    But here we are in 2020.

    Tepid is good enough – let the hate of the other guy be the thing. Better not to alienate the left any further by bullying them or dumping on them in the weird hope that it will produce more happy and energized support.

    Vote Against Trump! Vote Against Trump! Vote Against Trump!  Works for me.

    1. When I allow myself a few moments of optimism about the election's outcome I get excited about a Biden administration that, I'm sure, will appoint lots of the Obama administrators who served us so well.  Couple that with a flip of the Senate and we'll finally be able to accomplish what Obama/Biden tried to do.

      I can't wait for the O'Biden Administration!

  9. It's turned into a nasty smoke day here in Broomfield. We've got low visibility, exceptionally stinky air, and a thin covering of ash. How's everyone else doing?

    1. Same, maybe worse in Lafayette since we are more centered in the plume. Air quality index is now 199. That’s one point away from Hazardous.

      Correction. 199 is 1 point away from Very Unhealthy which is where we are now (at 205) one hour later than my initial post.

    2. Denver air:

      The monitor closest to me says:

      Site Name: Denver – NJH – 14th Ave. & Albion St.
      Monitor ID: 080310013_01
      Provider: AirNow
      NowCast AQI: 161 Current as of 09/06/2020 4pm MDT

      Red [the 4th of 6 levels]:  Unhealthy 151 to 200 Some members of the general public may experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.

  10. We're sure smelling and seeing it in south Denver. As fond of snow as I'm not, I'll take it right now.  The firefighters can only drop water on it, no retardant, since the Poudre's a watershed.

     

  11. Missed this the other day (Sept 5) — the never Trump site The Bulwark writes about

    Cory Gardner and the Toxic Republican Party

    There’s new polling out today which suggests that Gardner isn’t just toast: The toast is on fire, the fire has turned the toast to charred carbon, and the remains of the toast have been shot into the sun and reduced to their component atoms.

    Have a look at the numbers.

    Gardner is an incumbent senator in a purple state and he’s polling at 39 percent among likely voters.

    39 FORKING PERCENT.

    How is that even possible? Here’s how: He’s getting a 88 percent of Republicans, 0 percent of Democrats—not a typo—and among independents?

    54 percent to 25 percent.

  12. Note to self:  If you are a corrupt, incompetent grifter, don’t hire people to run your campaign that are even more corrupt and incompetent than yourself:

    Of the $1.1 billon his campaign and the party raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than $800 million has already been spent. Now some people inside the campaign are forecasting what was once unthinkable: a cash crunch with less than 60 days until the election, according to Republican officials briefed on the matter.

    Brad Parscale, the former campaign manager, liked to call Mr. Trump’s re-election war machine an “unstoppable juggernaut.” But interviews with more than a dozen current and former campaign aides and Trump allies, and a review of thousands of items in federal campaign filings, show that the president’s campaign and the R.N.C. developed some profligate habits as they burned through hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Although, Trump hasn’t forgotten his main objective in running for President:

    Mr. Trump, who once joked he could be the first candidate to make money running for president, has steered, along with the Republican Party, about $4 million into the Trump family businesses since 2019: hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mr. Trump’s club at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, lavish donor retreats at Trump hotels, office space in Trump Tower, and thousands of dollars at the steakhouse in Mr. Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel.

    Many of the specifics of Mr. Trump’s spending are opaque; since 2017, the campaign and the R.N.C. have routed $227 million through a single limited liability company linked to Trump campaign officials. That firm, American Made Media Consultants, has been used to place television and digital ads and was the subject of a recent Federal Election Commission complaint arguing it was used to disguise the final destination of spending, which has included paychecks to Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the partners of Mr. Trump’s two adult sons.

     

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