14 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1.  

   

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2. Next week a meeting of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention will take place. One of the two major agenda items is to banish a church that allowed LGBTQ members.

   Another is to punish a board member for criticizing the former occupant of the White House.

   I heard a Republican talking head say the GOP is not divided as a party, except inside the Beltway. I don’t believe that.
   The Republican party is at the apex of their struggle to survive. I think a significant percentage of the rank and file are yearning for new leadership to step out front. They need a champion…who will it be?

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   1. "Glory to god!" . . . 
       

      

      ???

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      1. Prolly not…🙄.

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   2. Several articles have covered the convention conversations/actions to come:

       * LGBTQ — a church will be banished, with others who have not "officially" been disciplined put on notice.

       * Right-wing politics — Rev. Russell Moore has led the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and decried Trump's lack of ethics

       * Women leaders — several object to women being called "pastor" or "minister" in SBC congregations

       * Race — some of the few Black SBC pastors are concerned with how the church and its related schools are handling the idea of "systemic racism"

      Sex, politics, race and religion — sounds like a heck of a conversation for the dinner table.

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3. Today is National Dog Biscuit Day

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   1. I mentioned that to our golden retriever, who looked at me like I was an idiot and informed me that EVERY DAY is national dog biscuit day. She added…”and don’t you forget it.”

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      1. I'd listen to that dog, Duke.

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4. I’m guessing lack of access to classified information has limited her insider trading?  Letting all those black folk exercise their right sans harassment has been hell on her portfolio? 

   Kelly Loeffler, Inspired by Stacey Abrams, Starts a New Voting Rights Group to Prevent People From Voting

   If you thought former Senator Kelly Loeffler would slink off into political obscurity, returning to what sounds like a pretty nice life as a very wealthy woman, after her loss to Raphael Warnock in January’s runoff Senate election, you’d be wrong! Perhaps jealous of all of the attention and praise that’s been justifiably given to Stacey Abrams’s organization Fair Fight, Loeffler has started a new group named Greater Georgia, with the goal of, as far as I can tell, ensuring as few Democrats in the state can vote as humanly possible.

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   1. Everyone needs a hobby …. between quite possibly being dropped from owning a basketball team, losing that senating gig, and unable to be a cheerleader for Trump, she probably had a few idle hours.

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5. Tom and Mark Udall penned a great piece in USA Today: 

   Vehement opposition to Deb Haaland ‘motivated by something other than her record’

   A number of Republican senators, including some we have worked alongside, have raised questions about Haaland’s experience and the positions she has taken — from her support of conservation solutions and climate action to her work with communities to elevate the voices of those impacted by unnecessary and damaging pipelines. It is every senator’s responsibility to represent their constituents. We both did this in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

   That said, it is hard not to notice that Rep. Haaland is being called out as “radical” for taking these positions. Were either of us the nominee to lead the Interior Department, we doubt that anyone would be threatening to hold up the nomination or wage a scorched earth campaign warning about “radical” ideas (my emphasis)

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6. The Equality Act has been reintroduced into the new Congress, and the House is poised to vote later this week. 

   Like clockwork:

   Franklin Graham: 

   Graham warned his Facebook followers to "rally God's army" and stop Joe Biden's "godless, secular agenda." He singled out the Equality Act, writing, "This is dangerous. This [bill] would change our nation at its very foundation… It will vastly alter the America that we leave for our children and grandchildren."

   Pat Robertson: 

   "Passage of the Equality Act will cause God to curse our nation.

   The (clueless) US Catholic Bishops' Conference:

   U.S. Catholic bishops' conference has launched a petition of its own, stoking fear that protecting the LGBTQ community is somehow a form of discrimination "against people of faith." 

   They all should take a gander at Dan Price's piece in Market Watch. We're losing our county not because we will choose to accept everyone as they are born, but because of their devotion to the golden calf. 

   Billionaire philanthropy is a ‘PR scam,’ says CEO who raised his workers’ minimum pay to $70,000

   He’s not buying what America’s billionaires are selling.

   The CEO known for increasing his employees’ base annual pay to $70,000 says wealthy people donating their money and getting rewarded with “glowing articles, a hospital named after you and a massive tax write-off” amount to “one of capitalism’s biggest PR scams.”

   (If the minimum wage had increased at the rate of productivity since 1960, it would be $23. Instead, it’s $7.25. That's $15.75 per hour *gone* from the pockets of low-income workers the past 60 years). 

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7. I know Duke will be shocked the boyz….overstated lied. 

   Harm to schools from drilling-lease pause may be overstated

   Moratorium opponents have warned of big state revenue drops resulting from the pause. They point to a University of Wyoming study last year that predicted a drop of more than $8 billion over five years for tax revenues across eight states as a result of the moratorium. That study indicated New Mexico and Wyoming would see the biggest hits, with $946 million and $304 million in lost annual revenue, respectively. But critics have questioned the assumptions and methodologies underlying that assessment.

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   1. Indeed…shocked.!

      They promised they wouldn't lie anymore. I am heartbroken.

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